THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


THE 


WONDERS  OF  VEGETATION. 


FROM  THE  FRENCH  OF 

MARION. 


EDITED,  WITH  NUMEROUS  ADDITIONS, 

BY  SCHELE  DE  VEKE,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Of  the  University  of  Virginia. 
AUTHOR  OF  "STUDIES  IN  ENGLISH,"  "AMERICANISMS,"  ETC. 


WITH  61  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NEW    YORK: 

CHAKLES   SCKIBNEK   &   CO., 

1872. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER   &  CO., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


STEREOTYPED   BY  R  I  V  E  R  S  .  D  E  ,     C  A  M  I,  R  I  I»G  *: 

WILLIAM  McCREA  &  CO.. 

NEWBURGU    N     Y  PRINTED    BY    (I     0.    IIOUfiUTON    AMI   COMPACT. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE. 

Victoria  Regina Frontispiece. 

The  Sacred  Tree  of  the  Isle  de  Fer 14 

The  Pine  of  the  Mountains 15 

Forest  of  Mangroves 22 

Vegetation  in  the  Tropics        . 28 

South  American  Scene 27 

Forest  in  Brazil 33 

Bread-Tree  of  Tahiti 36 

Bread-Fruit 39 

Cow-Tree 46 

Milk-Tree  of  Guiana 49 

Manna-Tree. 57 

Travellers-Tree        . 61 

Spathe  of  Palm-Tree 65 

The  Palm 67 

Bourbon  Palm 81 

Palms  of  the  Seychelles 85 

Arborescent  Ferns 89 

The  Bamboo 92 

The  Baobab 103 

The  Cedars  of  the  Atlas  Mountains 108 

The  Giant  Taper ...  113 

The  Screw  Pine 115 

Asclepias  Gigantea      .        .        .        .  .        .        .119 

The  Weeping-Tree 124 

A  Savage  shooting  poisoned  Arrows 125 

Gutta-Percha-Tree 127 

Caoutchouc-Tree.        .        .  131 


4  LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATION* 

PAGE. 

The  deadly  Upas .        .•       .  141 

Upas-Tree 143 

Valley  of  death— Java 149 

The  Oaks 151 

The  Oak  of  Allouville .        .157 

The  Oak  of  Montra-vail 163 

The  Chestnut  of  Mount  Etna 165 

The  Plane-Tree  of  Smyrna.        .  169 

The  Sycamore  of  Trons  .        .        .  .        .        .175 

The  Dragou-Tree .183 

Pitcher-Plant 189 

Eagle  Wing 191 

Giant-Trees  of  California 193 

Fallen  Monarch 195 

The  Father  of  the  Forest 197 

Pioneer  Cabin 199 

The  Mandrake 200 

The  "  Devil's  Apple  " .203 

Nympheacae 208 

Orchids 215 

The  Yuccas 221 

"  223 

Rafflesia  Arnoldi      ......  .  227 

Floating  Leaves  of  Victoria  Regina 229 

Nepenthe. 236 

Ice-Plant 240 

Pyralis  of  the  Vine  .  241 

Nutmeg-Tree  249 

Antirrhinum  Graecum .  251 

The  Bindweed 263 

Papyrus 270 

The  Flora  of  the  Sea 271 

Forest  of  the  Carboniferous  Period  .  278 


INTltODUCTOKY  NOTE. 


zealous  student  who  wishes  to  fathom  all  the 
mysteries  of  Botany  must  needs  have  scientific 
hand-books,  drawn  up  with  a  careful  regard  to  perfect 
accuracy,  and  containing  in  systematic  order  the  out- 
lines of  his  science.  The  general  reader,  and  especially 
youths,  on  the  other  hand,  require  to  be  enticed  by 
more  attractive  and  popular  works.  The  following 
pages  are  intended  to  be  such  an  introduction  to  the 
Science  of  Botany.  The  author  has  selected  some  of 
the  most  wonderful  plants  of  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
and  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  connected  with 
them,  which  cannot  fail  to  interest.  In  issuing  the 
work  in  English,  care  has  been  taken  to  secure  scien- 
tific accuracy,  and  to  bring  the  work  up  to  a  recent  date. 


THE  AYONDEBS  OF  VEGETATION. 


INTRODUCTION. 

aim  of  this  little  work  is  to  illustrate  by  charac- 
teristic  and  striking  examples  one  of  the  aspects 
of  the  marvellous  power  of  Nature.  For  Nature  is 
neither  as  familiar  nor  as  dear  to  us  as  she  ought  to 
be;  and,  as  the  tastes  of  society  are  daily  becoming 
more  artificial,  we  are  likely  to  remove  farther  and 
farther  from  our  great  mother.  It  seems  in  fact  as  if 
that  science  which  seeks  to  discover  her  secrets  knows 
nowadays  no  higher  aim  than  to  apply  these  to  the  in- 
dustries of  man  and  perhaps  to  gratify  curiosity.  And 
yet  it  is  only  by  intimate  intercourse  with  nature  that 
we  can  hope  to  extend  our  knowledge  and  to  devel- 
ope  the  affections  of  our  heart.  The  more  we  aliena4  e 
ourselves  from  her,  the  more  we  isolate  ourselves  and 
the  lower  we  sink  in  intellectual  greatness  ;  while  the 
closer  we  draw  to  her,  the  higher  we  rise  in  knowl- 
edge and  in  moral  worth. 

The  magnificence  and  the  glory  of  Nature  may  be 
studied  in  all  her  works  and  are  manifested  in  even 
the  smallest  and  apparently  the  most  insignificant  of 
all  her  productions.  Without  doubt  the  imposing 


8  THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

spectacle  of  the  heavenly  bodies  moving  in  their  or- 
bits, and  the  wonderful  forces  brought  into  play  to 
control  their  motions,  astonish  us  by  their  vastness 
and  their  power  *  but  the  surprise  awakened  in  us  at 
the  view  of  the  celestial  wonders  has  its  source  chief- 
ly in  the  comparative  material  greatness  of  the  ob- 
jects we  contemplate.  The  Author  of  Nature  mani- 
fests His  greatness  as  much  in  the  germination  of  a 
plant  or  in  the  generation  of  a  living  being  as  in  the 
guidance  of  a  sun  across  the  starry  fields.  It  is  His 
Almighty  Hand  that  studs  the  heavens  with  millions 
of  stars ;  but  it  is  the  same  hand  that  daily  scatters  the 
wind-blown  seeds  of  earthly  flowers  upon  the  soft  soil. 
Both  works  reveal  the  action  of  an  infinite  intelli- 
gence. To  rescue  a  world  beaming  with  life  from  the 
fiery  fury  of  a  comet,  or  to  close  a  corolla  at  the  ap- 
proach of  cold  fogs  or  the  touch  of  the  north  wind ; 
to  spread  out  in  space  a  milky-way  rich  in  suns  or  to 
adorn  our  garden  trees  with  purple  blossoms ;  to  di- 
rect the  gradual  formation  of  the  successive  layers  of 
the  earth's  crust  or  to  ripen  the  fruits  that  refresh  us 
in  summer — these  are  equally  the  works  of  a  Divine 
Hand,  a  hand  that  recognizes  no  difference  between 
the  small  and  the  great. 

To  contemplate  nature  in  flowers  or  in  stars  is 
only  to  reach  Truth  in  various  ways  :  in  both  cases  we 
try  to  fathom  the  mysteries  of  the  infinite  in  its  dif- 
ferent manifestations,  to  study  the  world  under  a 
thousand  aspects,  to  study  Nature  under  two  distinct 
masters,  but  in  the  same  school. 

A  full  and  complete  description  of  the  marvels  of 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.  9 

vegetation  would  be  a  gigantic  task ;  for  as  we  have 
said,  all  the  works  of  the  Infinite  are  equally  wonderful ; 
all  is  marvellous  in  nature  and  the  wonders  of  vegeta- 
tion are  limited  only  by  the  vegetable  world  itself.  The 
most  modest  of  plants  in  our  fields,  peeping  modestly 
through  the  thick  grass  and  those  which  reveal  them- 
selves under  the  microscope  only,  are  quite  as  marvel- 
lous as  the  splendid  orchid,  the  hoary  cedar,  the  trem- 
bling sensitive  plant  and  the  poison  tree.  But  in  veg- 
etation as  in  all  things,  the  objects  that  appear  to  us 
really  marvellous  are  those  which  awaken  within  us 
the  most  lively  impressions.  Owing  to  the  natural  in- 
activity of  our  mind  custom  has  the  effect  of  blunting 
our  sensibilities,  and  of  rendering  our  impressions  less 
lively  by  familiarity  ;  and  thus  the  wonders  which  at 
first  secure  our  keenest  attention  and  awaken  our 
most  lively  surprise,  come  in  the  course  of  time  to  be 
regarded  with  indifference.  "  Custom  stales  their  in- 
. finite  enchantment."  What  is  unknown, — what  is  new 
— will  always  seem  striking  to  us  and  secure  our  atten- 
tion. In  proportion  as  the  objects  become  familiar 
they  lose  the  power  of  exciting  our  wonder.  Yet, 
strictly  speaking,  two  objects  of  equal  interest  can 
never  alter  their  relative  position  however  accessible 
either  may  become  on  investigation. 

Suppose  one  of  us,  living  in  a  distant  world, 
should  reach  the  earth  to-day  for  the  first  time — what 
would  be  his  surprise  at  beholding  around  him  all  the 
manifold  scenes,  which,  taken  together,  make  up  the 
great  work  of  nature !  The  year  is  just  beginning,  and, 
as  at  the  dawn  of  day,  joyous  Spring  reawakens  the 


10  THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

sleeping  forces  and  once  more  decks  with  beauty  the 
world  that  has  been  stripped  by  the  rough  hand  of 
Winter.  The  heavens  seem  to  have  undergone  a  new 
birth — their  fresh  blue  kisses  the  distant  horizon  ;  the 
soft  breeze  plays  with  the  swelling  buds ;  the  sun  pours 
down  from  on  high  his  vivifying  rays,  verdure  springs 
ap  anew,  flowers  and  trees  feel  their  life's  blood  once 
more  coursing  through  all  their  veins,  and  from  the 
highest  mountains  where  vegetation  still  lingers,  to 
the  green  plains  below,  the  whole  earth  seems  to  cel- 
ebrate the  return  of  Spring  in  joy  and  brightness. 
What  a  marvellous  transformation  has  been  effected  ! 

The  trees  of  our  orchards,  the  vast  forests,  which  for 
months  have  presented  only  bare  trunks,  and  seemed 
immovable,  inert  objects,  which  death  had  claimed 
for  its  own,  become  green  again,  clothe  themselves 
once  more  with  fresh  leaves  and  spread  their  shade 
over  the  peaceful  retreats  of  the  country.  The  habit 
of  seeing  each  year  repeating  the  same  marvel — the 
same  resurrection  from  death  to  life,  keeps  us  from  ap- 
preciating it  in  all  its  grandeur,  and  recognizing  in  it 
the  prodigious  forces  at  work.  But  if  we  think  for  an 
instant  of  the  aspect  of  winter  and  of  that  of  the  season 
which  succeeds  it,  we  will  be  ourselves  surprised  at 
the  indifference  with  which  we  often  regard*  these 
changes,  without  even  a  passing  glance  or  an  earnest 
thought. 

How  much  more,  if  to  the  general  contemplation  of 
the  great  transformations  of  spring  and  summer  we 
should  adki  the  special  observations  of  each  class  of 
plants.  Then,  if  we  attempted  to  follow  the  devel- 


THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.  H 

opment  of  each  one  of  the  various  plants  that  grows 
on  the  face  of  the  globe,  the  wonder  would  be  propor- 
tionately greater.  No  two  different  species  present 
the  same  phenomena,  and  from  the  time  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  their  first  leaves,  to  the  ripening  of  their 
fruits,  they  offer  each  a  different  spectacle. 

Some  plants  guard  their  flowers  from  every  glance, 
and  seem  averse  even  to  showing  their  stems  and 
leaves ;  others  again,  appear  to  have  been  .  created 
only  for  show,  and  display  to  the  dazzled  glance  their 
wealth  of  sparkling  and  magnificent  colors ;  still  oth- 
ers seem  to  be  of  a  more  serious  character,  and,  dis- 
daining the  frivolity  of  their  gay  companions,  do  not 
reveal  their  existence  till  the  time  when  their  ripened 
fruits  attest  their  usefulness.  Here  the  eye  looks 
amazed  at  the  undiminished  vigor  of  an  aged  oak, 
which  has  seen  in  the  time  of  our  ancestors,  proces- 
sions of  Druids  pass  through  the  gloomy  forests,  and 
which  is  so  old  that  it  forgets  the  number  of  its  years, 
during  which  winds  and  tempests  have  in  vain  tried 
to  uproot  the  colossal  structure.  There  we  behold 
a  plant  so  fragile  that  it  can  hardly  bear  being  touched, 
and  resents  the  fluttering  of  a  bright-colored  bird  by 
a  painful  shrinking  of  all  its  leaflets.  But  we  have 
not  yet  spoken  of  the  marvellous  wealth  of  colors. 
"What  pencil  can  reproduce  those  various  tints  that 
adorn  our  beautiful  flowers?  In  the  meadows  we 
trample  under  foot  whole  hosts  of  tiny  blossoms  which 
hide  in  the  grass ;  purple  petals  overhang  the  banks 
of  the  stream  whose  murmur  attracts  us;  at  the  roots 
of  great  protecting  trees  wild  violets  exhale  their 


12  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

sweet  perfumes,  but  all  the  beauties  of  tlie  world  of 
plants  remain  unappreciated  by  many.  They  pass 
by  the  dazzling  white  of  the  superb  lily  and  bestow 
not  a  glance;  lovely  rosebuds  open  to  send  forth 
their  splendor,  unnoticed  by  the  eye  of  man,  and  yet 
can  even  the  most  perfect  works  of  man's  hand  compare 
in  beauty  with  the  most  modest  of  the  floral  works 
of  nature  ? 

Nor  are  the  splendid  colors  and  the  harmonious 
tints  of  flowers  their  only  charms  ;  even  these  beauties 
are  often  surpassed  by  the  rich  perfumes  of  which 
they  preserve  a  rich  treasury  in  their  bosoms.  Does 
it  not  seem  then  that  flowers  are  the  most  opulent  of 
created  things,  that  Nature  has  lavished  upon  them 
her  choicest  gifts  and  that  she  loves  them  best  of  all 
her  children  ?  Well  may  we  ask,  as  we  inhale  the 
evening  breeze,  laden  with  rich  perfumes,  what  strange 
gifts  they  bring  us  from  flower  and  forest  and  what 
magic  effect  these  grateful  odors  have  on  our  mind, 
on  our  soul  ?  They  seem  to  be  almost  spiritual  in 
their  ethereal  lightness  and  to  possess  powers  bestowed 
upon  them  from  on  high.  They  cannot  be  weighed 
or  measured,  and  we  have  as  yet  not  succeeded  in 
fathoming  their  marvellous  secret. 

It  is  true  then  that  all  is  marvellous  in  the  vege- 
table world,  and  that  in  describing  their  marvels  we 
should  be  bound  to  describe  every  thing.  But  since 
it  is  equally  true,  as  we  have  said  above,  that  objects 
which  are  continually  before  our  eyes  cease  to  interest 
us,  and  since  the  new  and  the  unknown  alone  appear 
to  us  marvellous,  we  must  needs  seek  among  these 


THE  WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.  13 

latter  our  illustrations  of  the  wonders  of  vegetation. 
We  shall,  therefore,  go  beyond  the  narrow  circle  of 
our  daily  observation,  and  the  facts  which  we  are  about 
to  present  will  at  least  possess  the  charm  of  novelty 
as  far  as  our  daily  thoughts  are  concerned ;  and  if  we 
can  derive  no  interest  from  the  things  which  surround 
us,  we  will  go  further  afield.  Travelling  is  a  good 
master,  let  us  follow  him. 


The  Pine  of  the  Mountains. 


PART    FIRST. 


CHAPTEK  I. 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  GEOGRAPHICAL    DISTRIBUTION  OF 
PLANTS  ON  THE  SURFACE  OF  THE  GLOBE. 


carpet  of  plants  which  covers  the  earth  does 
not  present  throughout  its  whole  extent  a  unity 
of  character  independent  of  locality  ;  on  the  contrary, 
each  climate  has  its  own  physiognomy,  and  certain 
species  seem  to  have  a  preference  for  certain  countries. 
Some  delight  in  the  burning  soil  of  the  tropics  or  de- 
velope  their  profuse  wealth  of  fruit  and  flowers  in  the 
warm  and  damp  forests  of  the  equator  ;  others  shun 
the  heat  of  the  sun  and  prefer  temperate  zones  or 
even  the  lands  of  the  North.  It  is  this  fact  that 


16  THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

gives  to  each  country  its  peculiar  aspect.  The  animal 
world  is  too  small  in  number,  too  restless  and  ever- 
changing  to  impress  its  mark  on  a  country.  Hence  of 
the  three  kingdoms  of  nature  the  vegetable  kingdom 
is  that  which  has  the  greatest  power  in  impressing  on 
our  mind  an  image  of  a  land  we  have  seen,  and  of  the 
great  natural  divisions  of  the  earth.  For  rocks  and 
mountains  also  preserve  the  same  forms  everywhere 
from  the  equator  to  the  poles,  and  their  aspects  could 
not  give  a  special  physiognomy  to  any  country.  But 
the  trees  and  the  flowers,  the  aspect  of  fields  and 
meadows,  of  hills  and  plains,  the  forms  and  the  colors 
of  the  leaves  and  the  size  of  the  plants — these  give  a 
character  to  the  scene,  on  which  we  pass  our  lives  and 
with  which  we  feel  bound  up  as  if  it  were  a  part  of 
our  existence.  And  in  long  journeys  amid  the  rich 
and  abundant  productions  of  the  tropics,  the  traveller 
looks  sadly  and  with  regret  for  the  trees  of  his  native 
land ;  and  his  heart  beats  quicker  as  he  sees  at  his  feet 
a  plant  or  a  flower  of  his  father-land  recalling  to  him 
sweet  memories  of  home. 

The  chief  cause  which  rules  in  botanical  geography 
and  governs  the  distribution  of  plants  throughout  the 
countries  of  the  globe,  is  temperature.  Thus  here  also, 
as  in  the  whole  harmonious  life  on  earth,  the  sun 
reigns  as  a  sovereign — it  is  he  who  directs  the  or- 
chestra, calling  forth  now  soft  and  solemn  cadences, 
now  light  and  brilliant  melodies.  Two  hundred 
thousand  varieties  of  plants  divide  the  surface  of 
the  earth  among  themselves.  One  great  law  directs 
the  division,  the  law  of  temperature.  No  other  force 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.  17 

exercises  any  thing  like  the  degree  of  influence  which 
this  agency  brings  to  bear  upon  the  distribution  of 
plants. 

Let  us  for  an  instant  consider  the  world  as  a  sphere 
turning  upon  its  axis — an  ideal  line  passing  through 
its  centre — and  call  the  two  points  where  this  line 
would  reach  the  surface  as  respectively  the  North  and 
South  poles.  The  motion  at  the  poles  will  of  course 
be  inappreciable.  We  will  give  the  name  of  the  equa- 
tor to  the  great  ideal  circle  which  passes  round  the 
middle  of  the  earth,  dividing  it  into  two  equal  halves 
— the  North  and  South  hemispheres.  Now,  as  the 
rays  of  the  sun  are  so  much  the  more  oblique  the  more 
they  diverge  from  the  equator,  it  follows  that  the  heat 
at  the  equator  is  at  the  maximum  while  at  the  poles  it 
is  at  the  minimum.  With  the  decrease  of  heat  from 
the  equator  toward  the  poles  corresponds  the  geograph- 
ical distribution  of  plants.  At  the  equator  and  in  the 
neighboring  tropical  regions  we  meet  with  the  vast 
proportions  of  the  largest  plants — as  the  boababs,  the 
palms,  the  elegant  tree-ferns,  the  aloes,  the  heaths- 
magnificent  plants  which  love  and  seek  heat.  In  leav- 
ing these  heated  countries  we  encounter  olives,  laurels, 
mimosas  and  bamboos.  Continuing  our  route  towards 
the  poles  we  see  magnolias,  chestnut-trees,  cotton  plants 
and  witchelms.  Proceeding  still  further  from  the 
tropics  till  we  reach  the  latitude  of  France  and  Mid- 
dle Europe,  or  our  Middle  and  Eastern  States,  we 
meet  with  oaks,  beeches,  willows  and  elms,  with  our 
common  fruit-trees  and  our  cereals.  In  the  Nor- 
thern countries,  near  the  limits  of  vegetation,  we 
2 


18  THE    WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 

still  find  the  mountain  ash,  the  pine-tree  and  all  the 
conifers. 

At  last  even  these  plants  cease  to  grow — the  oak, 
the  hazel  and  the  poplar  at  60°  North  latitude ;  the 
birch  and  lime  at  63° ;  and  the  conifers  are  not  found 
higher  than  67°.  Beyond  70°  only  a  few  stunted  wil- 
lows grow  here  and  there  close  to  the  ground.  Fur- 
ther north,  beyond  75°,  not  a  tree  is  to  be  found, 
shrubs  and  plants  even  have  disappeared  and  cereals 
can  no  longer  exist,  for  even  barley  and  oats  are  not 
found  beyond  70°. 

The  local  physiognomy  of  plants  depends  thus 
upon  the  normal  temperature  of  each  climate.  The 
same  principle  is  applied  to  the  elevation  at  which 
plants  grow,  and  by  combining  the  two,  we  are  enabled 
to  understand  in  its  entirety  the  distribution  of  plants 
over  our  globe. 

Instead  of  travelling  from  the  equator  towards 
the  poles,  let  us  simply  ascend  a  high  mountain  and 
we  will  find  that  the  classes  of  plants  appear  in  the 
same  order,  following  the  thermometric  ladder  of  al- 
titudes. We  know  that  the  higher  we  rise  in  the  at- 
mosphere, the  lower  we  find  the  temperature ;  and  this 
fall  is  so  rapid  that  the  ascent  of  a  few  minutes  in  a 
balloon,  or  of  a  few  hours  upon  a  mountain  side,  takes 
us  through  all  the  different  degrees  of  temperature 
from  70°  or  80°  of  heat  on  the  plains  to  the  freezing- 
point,  and  below  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  atmos- 
phere. In  consequence  of  this  law  all  the  mountains 
of  the  globe  have  a  lower  temperature  at  their  sum- 
mit than  at  their  base ;  and  we  find  among  their  vege- 


THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.  19 

table  productions  the  same  characteristic  zones  of 
vegetation  which  we  meet  with  in  going  from  the 
equator  toward  the  North  or  South  pole.  We  might 
therefore  compare  the  two  terrestrial  hemispheres  to 
two  mountains,  supported  the  one  against  the  other 
~by  their  bases  at  the  circle  of  the  equator,  their  sum- 
mits covered  with  eternal  snows,  and  certain  classes 
of  plants  dwelling  on  their  sides  in  regular  succession 
as  we  move  from  their  tropical  base  to  their  polar 
summit. 

We  can  obtain  an  idea  of  the  succession  of  plants 
by  following  an  ascent  made  by  Mr.  Ch.  Martins, 
of  Montpellier,  who  divides  with  Humboldt,  Hook- 
er and  a  few  renowned  botanists  the  glory  of  ad- 
vancing the  geography  of  plants — a  science  which 
had  its  birth  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century.  The  following  are  the  observations  made 
by  him  during  the  ascent  of  Mount  Yentoux  in 
Provence: 

"  All  the  trees  belonging  to  the  lowest  plains,"  he 
says,  "  were  found  at  the  base  of  the  mountain,  the 
characteristic  trees  being  the  Aleppo  pine  and  the 
olive-tree.  The  first  does  not  appear  at  a  greater  ele- 
vation than  1,300  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  the 
second  ascends  farther,  to  about  1,500  feet.  Besides 
these  trees  we  saw  all  the  Southern  species  which 
characterize  the  vegetation  of  Provence,  the  kermes 
oak,  the  rosemary,  and  the  Spanish  broom.  A  nar- 
row zone  succeeded  next,  the  chief  feature  of  which 
was  the  evergreen  oak,  which  is  not  found  beyond  1700 
feet. 


20  THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

"  A  treeless  region  comes  immediately  after  the 
first  two.  The  soil  is  bare,  stony,  and  generally  un- 
cultivated. Yet  here  and  there  we  saw  some  fields 
of  chick  peas,  of  oats  or  of  rye — the  last  being  found 
at  3,100  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean ; 
only  one  shrub,  the  box,  thyme  and  lavender,  and  a 
few  other  plants,  shared  with  each  other  these  desert- 
ed regions.  Beeches  were  seen  at  4,000  feet.  At 
this  height  there  is  very  little  shelter  to  be  found,  and 
the  trees,  exposed  to  the  strong  action  of  the  wind 
which  bends  them  down  to  the  ground,  are  really  no 
larger  than  bushes. 

"  At  the  height  of  5,100  feet  the  cold  is  too  keen, 
the  summer  too  short,  and  the  wind  too  violent  to  al- 
low even  the  beech  any  longer  to  thrive.  On  the 
Ventoux,  as  well  as  on  the  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees,  a 
coniferous  tree  is  the  last  representative  of  arbores- 
cent plants.  It  is  a  very  humble  kind  of  pine,  called 
the  'mountain  pine.'  These  pines  rise  to  the  height 
of  some  10  or  15  feet  in  a  few  sheltered  places,  but  be- 
come thick  shrubs  where  they  are  exposed  to  the 
wind.  They  are  found  at  an  elevation  of  5,430 
feet,  and  mark  the  extreme  limit  of  arborescent  vege- 
tation. 

"  Thus  the  plants  teach  us,  as  well  as  the  best  ba- 
rometer, that  we  have  reached  the  region  where  trees 
disappear,  but  where  the  botanist  will  find,  with  de- 
light, the  plants  of  Lapland,  of  Iceland  and  of  Spitz- 
bergen.  In  the  Alps,  this  region  extends  to  the  lim- 
its of  perpetual  snow,  the  home  of  eternal  winter ; 
but  as  the  Ventoux  rises  only  to  the  height  of  5,800 


THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.  21 

feet,  its  summit  corresponds  only  to  the  lower  part 
of  the  Alpine  region,  in  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees. 
At  this  height  trees  have  entirely  disappeared ;  but 
a  number  of  small  plants  unfold  their  petals  on  the 
surface  of  the  stones  or  rocks.  These  are  the  or- 
ange-flowered poppy,  the  violet  of  Mount  Cenis,  the 
blue-flowering  astragal,  and  at  the  very  summit  the 
rneadow-grass  of  the  Alps,  Gerard  Euphorbia,  and  the 
common  nettle,  which  appears  wherever  man  builds 
a  house. 

"  On  the  northern  slope  we  find  the  saxifrage, 
which  inhabits  the  Alpine  summits  amid  perpetual 
snows,  and  covers  the  icy  shores  of  Spitzbergen." 

Thus,  whether  we  travel  from  the  hot  countries  of 
the  equator  to  the  icy  regions  of  the  pole,  or  rise 
from  temperate  plains  to  snowy  mountain  summits, 
we  find  that  the  heat-giving  power  of  the  sun  alone 
governs  the  distribution  of  plants.  Each  plant  seeks 
its  own  degree  of  heat.  The  dwarf  birch  resists  a  cold 
of  400  below  zero,  the  orchids  are  frozen  at  50° 
above  it.  On  the  other  hand,  each  species  requires  a 
certain  amount  of  heat  for  germination ;  and  after 
that,  additional  heat  is  necessary  to  enable  it  to  flow- 
er and  ripen  its  seed.  Our  precious  cereal,  wheat, 
refuses  to  ripen  its  golden  ears,  rich  with  bread  that 
makes  the  strength  of  man,  unless  it  has  3600°  of  heat 
in  all,  for  the  time  from  its  first  springing  up  till  har- 
vest ;  and  the  darkling  cluster  of  grapes  cannot  glad- 
den the  heart  of  man  with  its  red  wine,  unless  it  have 
5400°.  This  is  why  each  plant  shows  a  decided  pref- 
erence for  a  particular  locality  and  a  particular  temper- 


22  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

ature,  why  crops  vary  in  different  years  according  to 
the  amount  of  heat,  and  why  each  region  of  the  globe 
presents  a  peculiar  physiognomy  in  its  plants  which 
corresponds  with  the  average  degree  of  heat  that  there 
prevails. 


FOREST  OP  MANGROVES. 


Vegetation  in  the  Tropics. 


CHAPTEK  II. 

VEGETATION     IN    THE    TROPICS. 

TN  order  to  obtain  some  approximate  idea  of  the 
-•-  grandeur  and  the  magnificence  of  the  vegetable 
world,  we  must  leave  the  temperate  climates  to  which 
we  may  have  been  accustomed,  and  pass  from  under 
the  cold  northern  sky  to  the  countries  that  are  loved 
by  the  sun,  where  nature  still  lives  in  all  its  youthful 
vigor,  and  glows  in  full  luxuriance ;  where  the  earth 
preserves,  as  it  were,  a  living  museum  of  all  the  riches 
which  have  elsewhere  disappeared  in  the  immense 
succession  of  primitive  ages.  For  this  purpose  we 
will  follow  certain  travellers  upon  whose  reflections — 
on  the  power  of  nature  as  manifested  in  the  plants  of 


24  THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

the  tropics — both  science  and  poetry  have  had  their  in- 
fluence. 

"Vegetation  displays  the  most  majestic  forms  un- 
der the  fiery  rays  which  flood  down  from  the  tropical 
heavens,"  says  Humboldt  in  his  "  Pictures  of  Nature." 
In  the  land  of  palms,  in  place  of  the  meagre  lichens 
and  mosses  of  the  North,  we  have  the  cymbidium 
and  the  fragrant  vanilla  hanging  from  the  trunks  of  the 
cashew  nut  and  gigantic  fig-trees.  The  fresh  verdure  of 
the  dracontium  and  the  deeply  indented  leaves  of  the 
pothos  contrast  with  the  brilliant  colors  of  the  orchids. 
The  creeping  bauhinia,  the  passion  flower,  the  yel- 
low banisterias,  interlace  the  trees  of  the  forest  and 
throw  their  trailers  far  into  the  air.  Delicate  flowers 
spring  from  the  roots  of  the  theobroma  and  from  the 
rough  bark  of  the  crescentia  and  the  gustavia.  In 
the  midst  of  the  luxuriant  vegetation,  among  the  con- 
fusion of  creeping  plants,  the  Naturalist  has  often  dif- 
ficulty in  determining  to  what  stem  the  flowers  and 
leaves  before  him  belong.  A  single  tree  interlaced 
by  the  paullinia,  the  bignonia  and  the  dendrobium, 
forms  a  group  of  plants  which,  if  separated,  would  suf- 
fice to  cover  a  considerable  space  of  ground. 

"  Tropical  plants  contain  a  great  deal  more  sap,  and 
their  leaves  are  much  larger  and  more  brilliant  than 
those  of  the  North.  The  plants  which  minister  to  the 
household  wants  of  man,  and  render  our  vegetation  so 
uniform,  do  not  form  a  feature  in  tropical  vegetation, 
which  is  consequently  much  more  varied  than  ours. 
Trees  nearly  twice  the  height  of  our  oaks  bear  flowers 
\vhich  equal  our  lilies  in  size  and  in  brilliancy.  Upon 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  25 

the  umbrageous  banks  of  the  Rio  Magdalena  in  South 
America,  grows  a  creeping  aristolochia,  the  flowers  of 
which  are  four  feet  in  circumference,  so  that  the  chil- 
dren amuse  themselves  by  making  head-dresses  of  the 
blossoms.  The  flower  of  the  rafflesia  is  nearly  three 
feet  in  diameter  and  weighs  nearly  fifteen  pounds. 

"  The  extraordinary  height  to  which  not  only  the 
mountains  but  whole  countries  rise  at  the  equator,  and 
the  depression  of  the  temperature,  which  is  the  re- 
sult of  that  elevation,  enables  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Torrid  Zone  to  behold  an  extraordinary  spectacle. 
At  the  same  moment  that  they  see  around  them  the 
palms  and  bananas  of  the  South,  they  are  called  upon 
to  notice  a  number  of  vegetable  forms  which  ordina- 
rily belong  only  to  northern  lands.  The  cypress,  the 
fir  and  the  oak,  the  thorn  and  alders,  very  much  like  our 
own,  cover  the  plateaux  of  Southern  Mexico  and  the 
part  of  the  Andes  which  crosses  the  equator.  Thus  na- 
ture permits  the  inhabitant  of  the  Torrid  Zone  to  see 
growing  near  each  other  all  the  vegetable  forms  of  the 
earth  without  leaving  the  place  where  he  was  born, 
just  as  the  vault  of  heaven  displays  to  his  view  all 
the  world  of  life  from  the  one  pole  to  the  other.  These 
enjoyments  and  many  others  are  denied  to  the  son  of 
the  JSTorth.  He  never  sees  a  large  number  of  the  stars, 
nor  does  he  ever  behold  many  of  the  most  beautiful 
vegetable  forms,  such  as  the  palms,  the  tree  ferns,  the 
bananas,  and  the  mimosas  with  their  delicate  feathery 
leaves. 

"  The  few  sickly  exotics  which  we  raise  in  our 
green-houses  represent  the  majesty  of  tropical  vege- 


26  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

tation  only  very  imperfectly ;  but  we  find  abundant 
compensation  in  the  beautiful  language  and  the  brilliant 
imagination  of  the  poet,  and  in  the  imitative  art  of 
the  painter  which  enables  us  to  create  a  tropical  world 
of  our  own  and  pass  in  review  before  our  mind  the 
living  forms  of  exotic  nature.  In  the  cold  climates  of 
the  North,  in  the  midst  of  sterile  plains,  man  can  ap- 
propriate to  himself  the  labors  of  others  and  enjoy  at 
home  what  the  traveller  has  gone  far  to  seek." 

To  this  sketch,  taken  from  one  of  the  grand  found- 
ers of  the  science  of  the  geography  of  plants,  we  will 
add  a  few  sentences  from  the  gifted  and  painstaking 
author  of  "Scenes  of  Nature  under  the  Tropics," 
which  are  worthy  to  be  placed  by  the  side  of  the  words 
of  the  great  master. 

"  Upon  the  banks  of  the  lakes  and  the  rivers,"  says 
Denis,  "  the  heat  of  the  sun,  calling  into  activity  the 
beneficent  moisture  of  these  vast  reservoirs,  produces 
gigantic  forms  of  vegetation.  Trees  which  elsewhere 
grow  with  difficulty,  rise  here  majestically  and  embel- 
lish the  banks  at  the  same  time  that  they  attest  their 
fertility.  The  Amazon,  the  Ganges,  the  Niger  roll  their 
waters  through  vast  forests  which,  being  replaced  from 
age  to  age  by  new  growth,  have  always  resisted  the  ef- 
forts of  man.  It  seems  indeed  that  Nature  chooses  the 
banks  of  these  immense  rivers  to  display  here  a  mag- 
nificence unknown  in  other  places.  I  have  noticed 
in  South  America,  that  the  trees,  rising  to  an  im- 
mense height  near  the  rivers,  give  a  peculiar  aspect  to 
the  forests.  Not  that  in  such  places  Nature  presents 
an  appearance  of  absolute  disorder ;  on  the  contrary, 


SOUTH  AMERICAN  SCENE. 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  29 

it  seems  as  if  its  strength  and  its  grandeur  have  spe- 
cially enabled  it  here  to  display  a  certain  majestic  reg- 
ularity in  vegetation.  The  trees,  towering  up  to  a 
height  that  wearies  the  eyes,  do  not  permit  feeble 
shrubs  to  grow  underneath.  But  the  vault  of  the  for- 
ests is  raised  higher ;  the  enormous  trunks  of  the  trees 
which  support  it  form  immense  porticoes  and  spread 
out  their  branches  with  majesty.  They  are  covered 
at  the  top  with  a  multitude  of  parasitical  plants,  which 
seem  to  claim  the  air  as  their  domain,  and  which 
proudly  mingle  their  flowers  with  the  very  top  branch- 
es. Here  often  upon  the  immense  fig-tree,  which  is 
itself  unpretending  in  appearance,  a  flexible  liane  will 
twist  spirally  around  it,  covering  it  with  garlands, 
and  uniting  it  to  all  the  great  plants  that  grow  around, 
till  at  the  utmost  top  it  seems  to  defy  the  dazzling 
splendor  of  the  noon-tide  before  it  once  more  descends 
to  embellish  the  mysterious  recesses  from  which  it 
first  sprang." 

In  the  forests,  which  are  less  majestic  and  more 
easily  penetrated  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  vegetation 
presents  an  astonishing  variety  and  within  much  easi- 
er reach.  Among  the  travellers  that  have  described 
these  forests  in  detail,  perhaps  no  one  is  more  exact 
than  the  prince  of  Neu  Wied. 

"Everywhere  life  and  vegetation  abound  without 
limits,"  he  says ;  "  and  not  the  smallest  space  can  be 
found  where  there  are  no  plants.  On  all  the  trunks 
of  the  trees  we  see  grenadillas,  caladineas,  pepper 
and  vanillas,  etc.,  flourishing,  climbing  and  twisting. 
Some  of  the  gigantic  steins  covered  with  flowers  look 


30  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

at  a  distance  white,  deep  yellow,  bright  scarlet,  rose 
colored,  violet  or  purple,  even  sky  blue.  In  the 
marshy  places  rise  in  compact  groups  the  large  and 
beautiful  elliptical  leaves  of  the  heliconia,  which  are 
sometimes  eight  or  ten  feet  in  height,  and  bear  for  an 
ornament  extraordinary  flowers  of  deep  red  or  flame 
color.  Enormous  bromelias,  with  countless  flowers, 
hold  huge  trees  in  deadly  embrace,  till  they  die  after 
a  long  struggle  and  suddenly  fall  thundering  to  the 
ground.  Thousands  of  creeping  plants,  from  the 
smallest  size  to  the  thickness  of  a  man's  thigh,  with  a 
hard  and  compact  wood,  twist  around  trees,  rise  to 
their  summit  and  there  flower  and  bear  their  fruit 
without  ever  being  seen  by  human  eye.  Some  of 
these  plants,  like  certain  banisteria,  have  forms  so 
singular  that  we  cannot  behold  them  without  aston- 
ishment. Sometimes  the  trunk  around  which  these 
plants  have  twined  themselves  dies  and  falls  away  in 
dust.  Then  the  huge  stems  of  the  parasites,  strongly 
interlaced,  are  seen  supporting  each  other,  clearly 
showing  their  frail  mutual  support.  It  would  be 
very  difficult  to  present  a  faithful  picture  of  these 
forests ;  for  it  is  not  within  the  resources  of  art  to 
represent  them  as  they  are." 

There  is  in  the  forests  of  the  New  World  a  har- 
mony perfectly  in  accord  with  the  phenomena  pre- 
sented to  the  view — as  all  is  grand,  imposing  and 
majestic ;  the  songs  of  the  birds  and  the  cries  of  the 
different  animals  also  have  something  savage  and 
melancholy  in  their  utterance.  Brilliant  and  sus- 
tained cadences,  cheerful  chirpings,  lively  and  gay 


THE  WONDERS    OF  VEGETATION.  31 

modulations,  such  as  we  hear  in  temperate  zones,  are 
here  less  frequent — they  are  replaced  by  songs  more 
grave  and  measured.  Now  a  voice  is  heard  which 
seems  to  imitate  the  far-sounding  blow  of  the  ham- 
mer upon  the  anvil,  and  now  a  sound  falls  upon  the 
ear  which  resembles  the  sudden  breaking  of  the 
strings  of  a  violin.  All  over  the  forest  you  hear 
strange  sounds  which  cause  profound  astonishment ; 
but  often  at  sunset,  when  the  birds  have  ceased  their 
songs,  there  is  heard  from  the  highest  tree-tops  a 
voice  which  would  fill  the  traveller  with  fear  if  he 
were  ignorant  of  the  cause.  Murmurs  like  those  of 
the  human  voice  announce  that  the  guaritas  (Simia 
Beelzebub}  are  beginning  one  of  their  assemblies, 
which  are  said  to  be  held  in  honor  of  the  setting  sun. 
Their  howls,  prolonged  in  the  most  lugubrious  man- 
ner, have  caused  credulous  men  to  believe  that  these 
animals  are  rendering  homage  to  Satan  and  paying 
him  a  tribute  which  he  exacts.  .  These  sounds,  heard 
at  the  hour  when  the  day  dies,  are  solemn  and  impos- 
ing— they  give  a  character  of  sadness  to  the  scene. 
If  the  jaguar  and  the  black  tiger  roar,  they  fill  the 
forest  with  a  sound  which  is  majestic,  but  productive 
also  of  uneasiness.  Harmless  animals  hearing  this 
dreaded  voice  suddenly  become  silent,  as  if  they  feared 
to  mingle  their  utterances  with  those  of  the  awful 
master.  If  in  addition  to  these  sounds  the  wind  be- 
gins to  blow  violently,  bending  the  lofty  summits  of 
the  trees,  making  the  palms  sigh  as  they  bend  low 
and  mingle  their  moans  with  the  rustling  of  the 
lianas,  and  losing  itself  finally  in  the  sombre  depths 


;}'2  THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

of  the  primitive  forests,  then  the  sounds  become  so 
sad  and  mournful  that  admiration  gives  way  to  terror. 
Of  the  great  plants  which  attract  the  attention  of 
the  traveller  and  impart  to  the  vegetation  of  the 
tropics  an  altogether  foreign  aspect  in  the  eyes  of  the 
foreigner,  we  will  select  the  most  remarkable,  whether 
from  their  beauty  and  size  or  from  the  service  which 
they  are  made  to  render  to  the  natives.  The  latter 
aspect  will  be  of  special  value  to  us,  for  it  will  give 
us  an  idea  of  the  power  'and  spontaneousness  with 
which  nature  here  proceeds  in  her  work — supplies  all 
that  is  needed,  and  incessantly  gives  new  beauty  to 
life.  To  mention  only  one  example  in  direct  connec- 
tion with  the  descriptions  which  follow,  we  will  re- 
mind the  reader  that  if  plants  and  animals  are  the 
natural  food  of  man,  that  food  must  needs  vary  ac- 
cording to  the  countries  which  he  inhabits.  Where 
a  certain  mode  of  life  is  no  longer  possible  because 
of  climate  and  soil,  that  mode  of  life  is  changed ;  but 
life  itself  is  not  suspended  on  that  account.  To 
maintain  life  is  the  supreme  aim  of  all  the  forces  of 
Nature,  and  her  law  is  to  manifest  herself  under  all 
possible  forms.  In  northern  countries  the  cereals, 
and  wheat  and  corn  in  particular,  supply  our  daily 
bread,  while  wine,  beer,  cider  are  the  drinks  accord- 
ing to  the  various  countries.  But  in  order  that  the 
wheat  may  ripen  there  must  be  frost  during  the  win- 
ter ;  otherwise  it  grows  rank  and  bears  no  seed.  Now 
in  warm  countries  there  is  no  winter;  the  seasons, 
distinctly  marked  in  northern  latitudes,  become  ef- 
faced in  proportion  as  we  approach  the  equator,  and 


FOREST  IN  BRAZIL. 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  35 

in  the  tropics  neither  wheat  nor  any  other  cereal  will 
thrive ;  but  are  these  countries  on  that  account  unin- 
habitable ?  By  no  means.  When  wheat  no  longer 
ripens,  other  vegetables  take  its  place ;  trees  furnish 
our  daily  bread  and  wine  in  their  fruit ;  milk  flows 
in  the  shape  of  creamy,  sap  and  the  fruits  of  northern 
countries  are  replaced  by  those  of  another  climate. 
Let  us  select  the  characteristic  types  of  these  valuable 
plants,  and  if  we  cannot  see  them  in  their  own  coun- 
try let  us  at  least  call  them  up  before  our  mind's  eye 
and  make  them  tell  us  their  own  history. 


Bread-Tree  of  Tahiti. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE    BREAD-FRUIT-TREE. 

WE  will  commence  this  portion  of  our  task  by 
mentioning  certain  extraordinary  plants,  which 
in  countries  essentially  different  from  our  own  in  soil 
and  climate,  are  made  use  of  by  the  natives  to  supply 
those  wants  which  are  supplied  among  us  by  means 
of  certain  domestic  animals,  or  by  mechanical  con- 
trivances, put  into  daily  operation.  There  is  one  re- 
markable family  in  the  kingdom  of  Flora,  of  which 
some  members  furnish  leavened  bread,  others  a  supply 
of  milk,  equal  to  the  best  cow-milk,  and  still  others 
the  most  fearful  poison  as  yet  known  to  man.  The 
useful  members  are  the  bread-fruit-tree,  the  milk-tree, 


TEE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION".  37 

and  those  which  supply  limpid  water  or  some  strength- 
ening beverage  to  the  traveller. 

As  bread  is  the  staff  of  life,  we  will  give  the  place 
of  honor  to  a  fig-tree,  which  actually  grows  bread  for 
our  antipodes  in  Oceanica,  and  thus  renders  unneces- 
sary the  toils  of  the  sower,  the  reaper,  the  miller,  and 
the  baker. 

The  ancients  loved  to  consider  Nature  as  an  indi- 
vidual being,  apart  from  the  world,  endowed  with 
reason  and  will,  and  constantly  spoke  of  her  in  prose 
and  poetry  as  the  "  Universal  Mother,"  and  she  well 
deserves  this  beautiful  name,  by  her  conduct  toward  all 
living  things,  and  especially  by  the  motherly  affection 
with  which  she  provides  for  the  numberless  children 
to  whom  she  is  incessantly  opening  the  gates  of  exist- 
ence. For  what  else  are  the  rays  of  the  sun  calling 
forth  life  upon  the  hill- slopes  ;  the  rain  falling  softly 
on  meadow  and  prairie,  and  even  the  warm  carpet  of 
snow  which  winter  spreads  over  the  frozen  earth  ; 
the  dew  of  morning  and  the  vapory  mists  of  evening 
— what  are  they  but  so  many  evidences  of  the  tender- 
ness of  our  mother  Nature — or  rather  the  watchful- 
ness of  Divine  Providence.  But  apart  from  these 
cares  bestowed  impartially  and  without  distinction 
upon  all  existing  things,  the  philosophical  traveller 
discovers,  every  now  and  then,  special  instances  which 
reveal  to  us  more  pointedly  this  marvellous  goodness 
of  Providence,  than  the  general  working  of  the  ab- 
stract laws  of  nature. 

Among  the  examples  which  in  a  special  degree 
attest  the  watchful  care  of  Providence,  we  have  to 


38  THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

mention  that  of  the  bread-tree,  discovered  in  the  isle 
of  Oceanica.  This  invaluable  tree  belongs  to  the  ge- 
nus Artocarpus^  of  the  fig  family.  The  leaves  in 
this  family  are  simple,  plain  or  serrated,  and  the  flow- 
ers very  small  and  imperfect,  some  having  no  corolla, 
and  others  no  calix,  but  all  appearing  alike  upon  the 
same  tree  at  the  extremities  of  the  branches. 

The  true  bread-tree  has  indented  or  serrated  leaves. 
We  say  the  true  bread-tree,  for  this  genius  embraces 
many  other  species,  which,  in  spite  of  a  very  remark- 
able organization,  do  not  possess  the  properties  of  the 
one  we  have  mentioned.  Thus  there  is  an  Artocar- 
pus  incisa,  with  small  leaves  and  flowers,  but  bear- 
ing fruits  which  are,  perhaps,  the  largest  borne  by 
any  tree  on  earth.  These  round  fruits  are  sometimes 
so  large  that  a  man  cannot  lift  them !  The  kernels 
are  eaten,  roasted  like  chestnuts,  but  they  are  not  easily 
digestible.  Then  there  is  the  Jack  (Artocarpus  in- 
tegrifoUa),  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  with  a  huge 
trunk,  and  dense  foliage  on  the  broad-branching  sum- 
mit, while  the  fruit  measures  18  inches  by  15.  Trav- 
ellers are  not  agreed  as  to  the  merits  of  the  latter. 
Rheede  says  they  have  an  agreeable  taste  and  odor, 
but  Commerson  could  not  summon  courage  even  to 
put  a  morsel  of  it  in  his  mouth.  "  Tastes  differ,"  but 
it  seems  difficult  to  explain  such  contradictory  opin- 
ions, unless  it  should  be  that  these  travellers  speak  of 
such  trees  as  certain  critics  are  said  to  judge  of  works 
which  they  have  never  seen.  A  third  species  is  the 
Artocarpus  hvrsuta,  the  tallest  of  the  genus.  Its 
wood  is  used  in  carpentery,  and  in  boat-building. 


THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION.  41 

The  Indians  hollow  out  the  trunk  to  make  their  pi- 
raguas, some  of  which  measure  80  feet  in  length  by 
nine  in  width,  and  thus  enable  them  to  make  long 
ocean  voyages. 

We  return  to  the  true  bread-fruit-tree.  The  dis- 
coveries in  Oceanica  have  rendered  it  celebrated,  and 
special  expeditions  have  been  undertaken  for  the  pur- 
pose of  obtaining  roots  for  transplantation  in  different 
parts  of  the  Old  and  New  World.  We  shall  presently 
notice  the  most  remarkable  of  these  expeditions.  The 
following  are  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  this  tree  : 

The  trunk  is  straight,  as  thick  as  a  man's  body, 
and  rises  in  a  gentle  spiral  to  the  height  of  about  40  feet. 
Its  large  round  top  covers  with  its  shadow  a  space  30 
feet  in  diameter.  The  wood  is  yellowish,  soft  and 
light.  The  leaves,  1-J  feet  long  and  one  foot  wide,  large 
and  permeated  with  seven  or  eight  lobes,  a  form  which 
characterizes  this  species.  The  same  branch  bears 
male  and  female  flowers.  The  bread  obtained  from 
the  tree  is  its  globular  fruit,  larger  than  a  child's 
head,  weighing  three  to  four  pounds,  and  rough  on  the 
outside,  covered  with  hair.  The  thick  green  rind  en- 
closes a  pulp,  which,  during  the  month  that  precedes 
maturity,  is  white,  farinaceous,  and  slighly  fibrous ; 
but  when  ripe,  changes  in  color  and  consistency,  and 
becomes  yellow  and  succulent  or  gelatinous.  The 
island  of  Otaheiti  abounds  in  the  best  kind  of  these 
trees,  which  bear  fruit  without  seed  ;  the  other  islands 
of  Oceanica  produce  varieties  of  less  valuable  bread- 
fruit, containing  angular  seeds  almost  as  large  as 
chestnuts. 


42  THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

The  fruit  of  this  tree  ripens  during  eight  consecu- 
tive months  in  the  year.  The  islanders  live  upon  it 
as  we  do  upon  our  manufactured  bread — it  is  their 
main  food,  and  nature  as  we  see  furnishes  it  to  them 
without  their  being  put  to  the  trouble  of  cultivating 
the  ground,  of  sowing,  reaping,  threshing,  grinding 
or  baking.  To  have  their  "  fresh  bread  "  they  choose 
the  time  when  the  pulp  is  farinaceous,  which  they 
can  teU  by  the  green  color  of  the  rind.  The  neces- 
sary preparation  "  for  the  table  "  is  accomplished  by 
cutting  them  in  thick  slices  and  cooking  them  upon 
a  charcoal  fire  ;  when  ready,  each  "  loaf"  weighs  about 
a  pound.  They  are  sometimes  also  placed  upon  a 
heated  oven,  as  we  do  with  pastry,  and  left  there 
until  the  rind  begins  to  blacken.  Then  the  burnt 
part  is  scraped  clean,  as  your  toast,  and  the  interior  is 
white,  ready  to  be  eaten,  tender  as  the  crumbs  of 
French  rolls,  but  little  differing  in  taste  from  wheaten 
bread,  except  only  a  slight  flavor  suggestive  of  the  in- 
side of  an  artichoke.  As  the  natives  want  bread 
throughout  the  whole  year,  they  take  advantage  of 
the  time  when  the  fruits  are  abundant  and  prepare 
from  the  pulp  of  the  surplus  fruit  a  paste  which,  after 
being  fermented,  can  be  kept  a  long  time  without 
turning  sour.  During  the  four  months  when  the 
trees  do  not  yield,  the  natives  live  upon  this  prepara- 
tion. 

The  expedition  to  which  we  referred  was  that 
made  by  Captain  Bligh,  sent  in  search  of  the  bread- 
tree  of  Otaheiti  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  it 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.  43 

into  the  tropical  colonies  of  Great  Britain  to  furnish 
food  for  the  slaves. 

The  narratives  of  Cook  and  other  explorers  had 
encouraged  the  highest  expectations  of  the  benefits 
which  would  result  from  the  culture  of  the  bread-fruit- 
tree.  The  English  colonists  entreated  their  govern- 
ment to  obtain  for  them  this  wonderful  tree  ;  a  vessel 
specially  fitted  for  the  purpose  was  got  ready  and 
placed  under  the  command  of  Bligh,  then  only  a  lieu- 
tenant, but  afterwards  an  admiral.  The  selection  of 
the  commander  was  judicious ;  for  Bligh  had  accom- 
panied Cook  in  his  voyages  and  given  on  many  occa- 
sions proofs  of  his  talents  and  his  gallantry.  Leaving 
England  in  1787,  the  expedition  arrived  in  six  months 
at  Otaheiti.  The  islanders  received  them  hospitably  ; 
more  than  a  thousand  plants  were  put  in  pots  and 
boxes  and  taken  on  board,  with  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  fresh  water  to  keep  them  alive,  and  five  months 
afterwards  the  precious  cargo  was  floating  towards  its 
destination.  But  in  spite  of  all  the  happy  auspices 
under  which  the  return  voyage  was  begun,  it  had  an 
unfortunate  ending.  It  furnished  one  of  those  ex- 
amples, happily  rare,  of  the  revolt  of  a  crew  and 
the  desperate  position  of  a  captain  left  to  the  mercy 
of  the  mutineers  in  the  midst  of  the  silent  ocean. 
Twenty-two  days  after  they  had  left  Otaheiti  the 
greater  part  of  the  crew  having  joined  in  a  most 
cowardly  plot,  seized  Bligh  during  the  night  and 
placed  him  with  the  eighteen  that  remained  faithful  to 
him  in  a  long  boat  with  some  provisions  and  instru- 
ments, and  leaving  them  alone  in  the  middle  of  the 


44  THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

ocean,  sailed  off  and  were  soon  out  of  sight.  Bligh 
and  his  companions  bore  up  with  superhuman  cour- 
age in  the  midst  of  their  fatigue  and  sufferings  ; 
only  one  succumbed.  They  arrived  at  the  island  of 
Timor  after  having  sailed  the  distance  of  3,600  nau- 
tical miles  in  the  long  boat.  The  Dutch  governor 
received  them  kindly,  and  soon  twelve  of  them  were 
able  to  take  passage  to  Ireland.  Bligh  obtained  justice 
in  England ;  he  was  immediately  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  captain  and  placed  in  charge  of  a  new  and 
larger  expedition.  This  time  he  succeeded  completely, 
and  two  years  after  the  two  vessels  of  the  expedition 
landed  in  the  British  West  Indies,  having  on  board 
1,200  plants  of  the  bread-fruit-tree,  and  without  hav- 
ing lost  a  single  man  of  either  of  the  crews. 

The  slaves  of  the  West  Indies  did  not  show  as 
much  alacrity  in  making  use  of  the  fruit  as  had  been 
expected,  preferring  their  familiar  food,  the  banana ; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  Europeans  accepted  it  with  great 
pleasure.  It  ought  to  be  stated,  however,  that  the 
slaves  eat  the  fruit  without  having  previously  pre- 
pared it,  while  the  Europeans  cooked  it  according  to 
the  best  receipts  of  English  writers. 

The  old  people  of  Otaheiti  attribute  the  origin  of 
the  bread-fruit-tree  to  an  incident  which  is  embodied 
in  a  touching  legend. 

At  a  time  of  great  scarcity,  a  father  assembled  his 
numerous  children  upon  the  mountains  and  said  to 
them :  "  You  will  inter  me  in  this  place ;  but  you  will 
find  me  again  on  the  morrow." 

The  children  obeyed,  and  coming  on  the  following 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.  45 

day  as  they  had  been  commanded,  they  were  much 
surprised  to  see  that  the  body  of  their  father  had  been 
transformed  into  a  great  tree.  His  toes  had  stretched 
out  to  form  the  roots ;  his  powerful  and  robust  body 
had  furnished  the  trunk,  his  outstretched  arms  were 
changed  into  branches,  and  his  hands  into  leaves.  His 
bald  head  finally  had  disappeared,  and  a  delicious  fruit 
was  found  in  its  place. 

This  legend  recalls  the  seventh  circle  of  the  Infer- 
no of  Dante,  where  the  souls  who  had  been  violent 
upon  earth  are  seen  changed  into  living  trees,  while 
their  limbs  writhe  and  twist  like  the  branches  of  dead 
trees.  But  we  prefer  the  simple  legend  of  the  primi- 
tive isles  to  the  gloomy  imagination  of  the  great  Ital- 
ian ;  the  poet  speaks  of  the  dead,  the  islanders  appeal 
to  the  living. 

THE  MILK  TREE. 

Ever  since  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  by 
Columbus,  explorers  have  been  hard  at  work  to  become 
familiar  with  the  new  countries  which  were  opened 
up  before  them,  and  to  publish  descriptions  of  the  new 
forms  of  life  both  in  the  animal  and  the  vegetable 
kingdom.  If  we  were  to  believe  all  the  marvellous 
narratives  of  the  early  times,  from  Marco  Polo  to  Ma- 
gellan, we  might  easily  place  in  our  Book  of  Wonders 
men  with  dog-heads  and  trees  gifted  with  the  powers 
of  speech.  But  we  do  not  mean  here  to  repeat  those 
fables ;  we  are  interested  only  in  natural  and  actual 
wonders.  As  early  as  the  year  1505  many  remarkable 
plants  and  animals  had  already  been  described  truth- 


46  THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 

fully,  but  some  rare  species  were  for  a  long  time  over- 
looked, though  they  belong  to  the  countries  first  dis- 
covered and  though  they  ought  to  have  attracted  at- 
tention by  the  special  features  by  which  they  are  dis- 
tinguished. To  this  number  belongs  the  cow-tree, 
the  arbre  d  lait  (milk-tree)  of  the  French.  This  tree 
is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  Central  America,  and 
yet  it  was  not  known  to  Europe  as  late  as  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century.  It  was  on  the  1st  of 
March,  1800,  that  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  observed  it 
on  the  Barbula  Farm  during  their  expedition  to  the 
valleys  of  Aragua. 


Cow-Tree. 

An  ancient  writer,  Lact,  had  mentioned  it  briefly 
in  his  Novus  orbis :  "In  the  province  of  Cumana," 
says  he,  "  there  are  trees  which,  when  their  bark  is 
pierced,  pour  out  an  aromatic  resin ;  while  others  yield 
a  juice,  which  resembles  curdled  milk,  fit  for  food." 

This  solitary  observation  is  obviously  vei-y  ineom- 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.  47 

plete,  and  it  was  left  for  Humboldt  to  describe  the  tree. 
We  quote  the  passage  : — 

"  While  these  trees  present  the  remarkable  feature 
of  furnishing  man  with  his  bread  all  ready  made  by 
the  benevolent  hand  of  Nature,  he  seeks  his  daily 
bread  in  other  less  favored  regions  in  every  plant 
that  grows  around  him.  From  the  lofty  bread-tree 
through  the  whole  scale  of  trees  and  shrubs  and  lowly 
plants,  there  are  but  few  which  he  has  not  learned  to 
convert  into  nourishing  food ;  and  when  at  last  the 
earth  seems  to  refuse  him  further  aid,  he  digs  beneath 
the  surface  or  dives  into  the  water  to  bring  back  with 
him  the  desired  supply.  One  of  the  most  remarkable 
plants  of  the  latter  class  is  the  Edible  Arum  (Colo- 
casia  Fsculenta],  the  roots  of  which,  if  properly  pre- 
pared, furnish  a  palatable  dish.  But  the  plant  has 
another  and  even  more  striking  peculiarity.  It  liter- 
ally distils  water  and  launches  tiny  drops  in  the  form 
of  a  jet  from  the  pores  at  the  end  of  its  magnificent, 
heart-shaped  leaves.  A  careful  and  ingenious  observer 
ascertained  that  from  10  to  100  drops  of  water  were 
thrown  every  minute  to  a  distance  of  an  inch  and 
more." 

"  In  returning  from  Porto  Cabello  we  rested  at 
the  Barbula  plantation.  We  had  heard  for  some 
weeks  about  a  tree  -the  juice  of  which  was  milk  fit 
for  food.  The  tree  was  called  Palo  de  Yaca,  and  we 
were  assured  that  the  negroes  of  the  plantation  large- 
ly used  this  vegetable  milk,  regarding  it  as  healthy 
and  nutritious.  As  all  milky  juices  of  plants  are 
acrid,  bitter,  and  more  or  less  poisonous,  this  assertion 


48  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

seemed  to  us  very  extraordinary.  Experience  has 
however  proved  that  the  virtues  of  the  cow-tree  had 
not  been  overrated.  When  incisions  are  made  in 
the  trunk  of  the  tree,  it  gives  forth  a  glutinous  milk, 
rather  thick,  free  from  all  acidity,  and  exhaling  a  very 
agreeable  odor.  We  were  offered  some  of  it  in  cala- 
bashes, and  drank  considerable  draughts  of  it  both  that 
night  before  retiring  to  rest,  and  early  in  the  morning, 
without  experiencing  any  unpleasant  effects.  The 
viscous  quality  of  the  milk  was  the  only  thing  un- 
pleasant about  it.  The  negroes  and  free  men  who 
work  on  the  plantations  drink  it,  soaking  in  it  corn 
cakes  and  cassava.  The  manager  of  the  farm  assured 
us  that  the  slaves  became  sensibly  fatter  during  the 
season  when  the  cow-tree  furnishes  them  the  largest 
supply  of  milk." 

"  Among  the  numerous  interesting  phenomena 
presented  to  me  during  my .  expedition,"  continues 
Humboldt,  "  few  things  made  a  more  vivid  impres- 
sion upon  my  imagination  than  the  appearance  of  the 
cow-tree.  Every  thing  that  relates  to  milk  or  concerns 
cereals  awakens  within  us  an  interest  which  is  not 
merely  of  a  scientific  character,  but  which  connects 
itself  with  another  order  of  ideas  and  sentiments.  It 
is  hardly  possible  to  conceive  of  the  human  race  exist- 
ing without  farinaceous  substances,  or  without  that 
nutritious  liquid  which  springs  from  the  mother's 
breasts,  and  which  is  so  admirably  suited  to  the  infant 
in  the  weakness  of  its  early  youth.  Farinaceous  mat- 
ter is  found  not  only  in  grain  but  also  in  many  roots, 
and  even  in  the  trunks  of  certain  trees,  as  in  the  sago 


MILK   TREE   OF   GUT  AN  A. 


THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  51 

palm.  But  as  to  milk,  we  are  accustomed  to  look 
upon  it  as  solely  an  animal  product.  Such  are  the 
impressions  which  we  have  received  from  our  infancy, 
and  this  was  the  source  of  the  astonishment  which  seized 
us  at  the  first  sight  of  the  cow-tree. 

In  Caracas,  South  America,  there  grows  upon  the 
dry  face  of  a  rock  a  tree  the  leaves  of  which  are  dry 
and  barklike ;  its  great  roots  penetrate  with  difficulty 
into  the  earth.  During  many  months  of  the  year  not  a 
shower  moistens  its  foliage — the  branches  appear  dead 
and  withered,  but  when  the  trunk  is  pierced  a  sweet 
and  nourishing  milk  flows  forth.  The  supply  of  the 
liquid  is  most  abundant  at  sunrise.  At  that  hour  the 
blacks  and  the  natives,  furnished  with  large  pitchers  to 
receive  the  milk,  which  is  yellow  and  gradually  thickens 
on  the  surface,  arrive  at  the  cow-trees  from  all  quar- 
ters. Some  drink  their  supply  on  the  spot,  others 
carry  it  away  to  their  children.  We  might  fancy 
that  we  beheld  the  family  of  a  patriarch  who  is  dis- 
tributing the  milk  of  his  herd. 

The  milk-yielding  plants  belong,  mainly,  to  three 
families  of  Euphorbiacese,  UrticeaB  and  Apocynese,  but 
in  the  juice  of  almost  all  of  these  acrid  and  deleterious 
elements  are  to  be  found,  from  which  the  milk  of  the 
cow-tree  is  free.  Still  there  are  some  species  of  Eu- 
phorbia and  Asclepias  which  also  yield  milk  that  is 
sweet  and  harmless.  Thus  in  the  Canaries  we  find 
the  Tabaila  (Euphorbia  lalsamifera)  mentioned  by 
Pliny  as  Ferula,  and  as  giving  out,  when  pressed,  a 
liquor  agreeable  to  the  taste ;  at  Ceylon  is  found  a 
lactiferous  Asclepias,  the  milk  of  which  is  used  when 


52  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

cow's  milk  cannot  be  had,  while  the  leaves  are  used 
in  cooking  such  food  as  is  elsewhere  prepared  with 
cow's  milk. 

This  natural  vegetable  milk  offers  besides  other 
points  of  affinity  and  resemblance  to  natural  milk. 
Thus,  placed  in  the  open  air,  in  a  short  time  a  yellow- 
ish, thick  membrane  appears  on  the  surface,  not  unlike 
the  little  skin  that  forms  on  milk,  and  this  continues 
to  thicken  and  is  taken  off,  to  be  kept  under  the  name 
of  cheese  often  for  a  week.  Nature,  however,  also 
takes  to  churning  herself  occasionally.  On  the  banks 
of  the  Niger,  the  natives  gather  'their  butter  directly 
from  a  tree  (Pentadesma  ~butyracea)  and  sell  it  in 
their  markets.  It  is  said  that  the  kings  of  Dahomey, 
fearing  its  value  as  an  article  of  export,  and  thus  as  a 
means  of  bringing  the  land  into  relations  with  more 
civilized  countries,  have  ordered  it  to  be  extermina- 
ted !  It  is  annually  burnt  by  royal  decree — it  annu- 
ally springs  up  again  defying  the  decrees  of  the  cruel 
sovereigns. 

Although  many  kinds  of  lactiferous  plants  furnish 
caoutchouc,  not  a  trace  of  it  is  found  in  the  product 
of  the  cow-tree;  and  the  cheese  of  which  we  have 
spoken  are  not  very  different  from  our  own.  In 
chemical  analysis  the  tree  milk  bears  a  close  affinity 
to  animal  milk  ;  the  butter  is  represented  in  the  veg- 
etable milk  by  a  beautiful  and  abundant  wax,  caseine, 
by  a  substance  not  unlike  the  fibrine  of  blood,  and  the 
serum  by  a  watery  liquid  containing  a  little  sugar 
and  a  small  percentage  of  the  salt  of  magnesia. 
Placed  over  the  fire  vegetable  milk  undergoes  the  same 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  53 

modification  as  animal  milk.  A  cream  forms  on  the 
surface  which  cannot  easily  be  taken  off;  the  milk  boils 
up  and  shows  a  tendency  to  run  over  from  the  vessel 
which  contains  it.  If  the  cream  is  removed  as  it 
forms,  and  a  steady  heat  is  kept  up,  the  milk  gradu- 
ally assumes  the  consistency  of  paste ;  then  appear  upon 
the  surface  oily  rings,  like  those  which  come  Jbo  the 
surface  of  cream  that  has  been  upon  the  fire  for  some 
time.  Finally,  this  fat  part  envelopes  the  whole  of 
the  posset,  which  then  diffuses  an  odor  exactly  similar 
to  that  of  roast  beef. 

The  tree  is  found  chiefly  in  the  valleys  of  Cauca- 
gua,  in  the  Cordilleras,  near  the  sea-coast,  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  lake  of  Valencia.  At  Caucagua  the 
natives  name  it  the  "  Arbo  de  leche  "  (milk-tree),  and 
assert  that  they  can  tell  by  the  color  and  the  thickness 
of  the  leaves  which  trees  contain  the  juice  in  the  great- 
est abundance,  precisely  as  the  farmer  tells  by  certain 
marks  the  good  qualities  of  a  milch  cow. 

In  1829,  Smith,  the  traveller,  while  passing  through 
the  woods  of  Guiana,  made  special  search  for  the  tree 
which  had  been  described  by  Humboldt,  and  inquired 
of  all  the  guides  if  they  could  tell  him  any  thing  of 
such  a  tree.  He  had  already  met  milk-giving  plants, 
but  the  bitter  taste  of  their  sap  was  utterly  unlike 
milk.  One  day  finding  himself  in  a  little  Indian  vil- 
lage near  the  first  rapids  of  the  River  Demerary,  he 
heard  reports  of  a  tree  called  the  hya-hya,  whose  milk, 
it  was  said,  was  nourishing  and  agreeable  to  the  taste. 
Determined  to  ascertain  the  fact,  the  traveller  sent  an 
Indian  in  search  of  one  of  these  trees.  The  Indian 


54  THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

not  only  found  the  tree,  but  cut  it  down,  and  the 
creek,  across  which  it  had  fallen,  was  whitened  by  its 
milk.  A  knife  stuck  into  the  bark  immediately 
brought  forth  a  stream  of  sap,  which  the  Indian  drank 
eagerly.  Smith  drank  after  the  Indian,  and  found  the 
milk  excellent.  "It  was,"  he  says,  "thicker  and 
richer  than  cow-milk,  entirely  free  from  bitterness, 
and  the  only  slightly  unpleasant  feature  was,  that  af- 
ter drinking  my  lips  felt  slightly  viscous.  As  I 
passed  the  night  in  the  village,"  the  traveller  contin- 
ues, "  I  had  in  the  morning  a  glass  of  this  milk  for 
my  coffee,  and  it  proved  such  a  good  substitute  for 
cow-milk  that  no  one  could  have  told  the  difference  ; 
for  the  slight  viscousness  which  I  had  noticed  in  tast- 
ing it  before,  disappeared  when  it  was  mixed  with  the 
coffee." 

The  milk  flows  more  freely  if  the  opening  made 
is  transverse  or  oblique,  than  if  it  is  longitudinal. 
The  bark  of  the  hya-hya  is  gray,  rather  rough,  and 
has  to  be  cut  completely  through  in  order  to  make 
the  milk  flow.  This  tree  is  very  different  from  the 
other  cow-tree.  Its  leaves  are  elliptical,  and  grow  in 
couples.  The  chemical  composition  of  the  milk  also 
differs — it  is  not  equally  nourishing. 

Besides  these  remarkable  species  of  milk-producing 
trees  belonging  to  America,  a  milk-tree  not  less  remark- 
able, called  Masaranduba,  by  the  Indians,  is  found  in 
the  port  of  Para  (Brazil).  It  is  one  of  the  largest 
trees  in  the  Brazilian  forests,  and  furnishes  a  wood 
highly  prized  for  ship-building.  The  tree  blooms  in 
February  and  yields  a  delicious  fruit,  the  taste  of  which 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  55 

recalls  that  of  strawberries  eaten  with  fresh  cream. 
From  an  incision  made  in  the  trunk  a  white  milk 
pours  forth,  perfectly  liquid,  agreeable  to  the  taste  and 
without  any  odor.  The  natives  habitually  live  upon 
it.  The  officers  of  the  Chanticleer,  whose  surgeon, 
Mr.  Webster,  was  the  first  to  discover  this  tree,  con- 
stantly used  it  during  their  stay  in  the  ports,  like  or- 
dinary milk,  both  in  tea  and  coffee. 

This  tree  is  very  tall ;  its  bark  is  dark  brown  and 
the  leaves  are  large  and  oval. 

The  crew  of  the  Chanticleer  having  kept  some 
of  this  milk  in  bottles,  found  that  at  the  end  of  two 
months  it  had  separated  into  two  parts,  the  one 
liquid,  light  yellow,  and  with  a  slightly  sour  odor,  the 
other  solid,  white  and  insipid,  insoluble  in  water  or  in 
alcohol.  This  substance  would  burn  easily,  giving 
forth  a  brilliant  green  flame ;  it  appeared  to  consist 
for  the  most  part  of  wax,  and  contained  none  of  the 
animal  matter  which  abounds  to  such  an  extent  in  the 
coagulated  parts  of  the  milk  of  the  polo  de  vaca  or 
cow-tree. 

This  milk-bearing  tree,  at  first  and  still  quite  com- 
monly called  Galactodendron  dulce,  is  in  reality  the 
same  tree  as  the  polo  de  vaca,  now  known  by  its  bo- 
tanical name  of  Brosimum  Galactodendron,  and  be- 
longs to  the  family  of  fig-trees.  There  are,  however, 
on  the  coast  several  other  trees  which  give  forth 
milky  juices  and  are  often  confounded  with  the  lat- 
ter. For  instance,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Maracaibo, 
the  Clusia  Galactodendron  pours  forth  a  milky 
stream  very  agreeable  to  the  taste ;  but  the  milk  is 


56  THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

not  of  equally  good  quality,  cannot  be  as  easily  purified, 
and  leaves  an  unpleasant  resinous  matter  behind  in- 
stead of  wax ;  still  others,  like  the  Hura  Crepitans, 
are  actually  poisonous,  and  the  sap  is  employed  to 
poison  the  waters  of  rivers  for  the  purpose  of  killing 
the  fish. 

THE  MANNA-TREE. 

During  the  intense  heat  of  the  month  of  August, 
when  the  sap  is  abundant,  this  tree  furnishes  a  nutri- 
tive substance  of  slightly  bitter  taste.  It  is  a  natural 
secretion  of  the  plant,  and  has  procured  for  it  the 
name  which  recalls  the  miraculous  food  of  the  Israel- 
ites in  the  desert.  Manna  is  a  liquid  substance  as 
clear  as  water,  and  flows  from  the  tree,  if  about  the 
middle  of  August  an  incision  is  made  in  the  bark. 
Generally  the  tirst  cut  is  made  near  the  foot  of  the 
tree ;  and  each  day  a  new  incision  is  added  two  inches 
above  the  last  and  so  on  up  to  the  lower'  branches. 
These  cuts,  generally  made  with  a  pruning-knife  or 
carpenter's  chisel,  are  usually  two  inches  in  length 
and  half  an  inch  deep. 

At  first  the  sap  flows  abundantly,  like  a  liquid 
stream ;  at  the  end  of  a  month  it  becomes  thicker 
and  flows  less  freely.  The  rainy  season  interrupts  it 
altogether,  and  towards  the  end  of  September  the 
heat  of  the  day  is  no  longer  sufficiently  powerful  to 
make  the  sap  rise,  which  gradually  recedes  to  the 
lowest  parts  of  the  tree. 

The  manna  gradually  loses  its  slightly  bitter 
taste  which  it  had  when  taken  from  the  tree ;  the 


MANNA    TREE 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  59 

watery  particles  evaporate,  and  its  taste  becomes  even 
insipid  and  not  at  all  appetizing. 

This  tree  (Fraximus  ornus)  belongs  to  the  same 
genus  as  the  common  ash,  and  is  a  native  of  Sicily  and 
the  south  of  Italy.  Its  normal  height  is  20  feet ;  at 
first  view  it  might  be  taken  for  a  young  elm,  but  the 
appearance  of  the  leaves  clearly  mark  it  as  a  differ- 
ent species.  There  are  three  varieties  known ;  the 
leaves  of  the  first  are  long  and  straight  like  peach 
leaves ;  those  of  the  second  resemble  the  leaves  of 
the  rose,  while  on  the  third  variety  they  partake  of 
the  appearance  of  both  the  former. 

The  manna  of  Calabria  is  highly  esteemed,  and 
the  most  renowned  kind  grown  there  is  that  from  the 
gardens  of  (Enotria.  A  popular  tradition  exists  in 
the  district  to  the  effect"  that  the  kings  of  Naples 
having  intended  to  enclose  these  gardens  in  order  to 
raise  a  tax  from  the  cultivation  of  manna,  the  latter 
suddenly  ceased  to  flow,  as  if  the  trees  had  been 
struck  with  sterility,  and  they  remained  in  this  con- 
dition until  the  unjust  impost  had  been  removed. 

It  need  hardly  be  added  that  the  manna  of  the 
Israelites  was  in  no  way  connected  with  the  ash-tree 
of  our  day.  What  is  now  called  manna  by  the  Arab, 
is  a  gum  from  the  tarfa  or  tamarisk  shrub  (Tamarix 
gattica),  and  the  real  manna  of  the  Israelites  has  never 
yet  been  ascertained. 

It  is,  however,  by  no  means  necessary  for  us  to  go 
to  far  distant  lands  in  order  to  see  what  marvels  na- 
ture .displays  by  means  of  the  simple  sap  which  rest- 
lessly moves,  like  the  blood  of  man,  through  every 


CO  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

vein  and  artery  of  plants.  In  our  own  country,  and 
strangely  enough,  in  its  most  northern  parts,  we  de- 
rive from  this  sap  one  of  the  most  valuable  products 
of  the  whole  vegetable  kingdom.  Our  sugar  maple 
(Acer  saccharinum\  when  tapped  at  the  proper  season, 
pours  forth  its  liquid  sweetness  at  the  rate  of  a  bucket- 
ful a  day.  This  fluid,  evaporated  by  gentle  heat, 
yields  a  brown,  luscious  syrup,  which  is  afterwards  con- 
verted into  diminutive  sugar-cakes,  and  enters  largely 
into  home-consumption  as  maple-sugar  throughout 
the  whole  northern  portion  of  our  Union. 

THE  TRAVELLER'S  TREE— ( Urania  Speciosd). 

This  remarkable  tree  is  found  only  on  the  island 
of  Madagascar ;  it  belongs  to  the  Musacese  and  to 
the  same  family  of  which  the  banana,  the  plantains 
and  the  brilliant  flowered  strelitsias  are  members. 
Unlike  other  palm-trees,  they  grow  better  in  the 
interior  than  upon  the  sea-shore ;  and  their  appearance 
produces  an  agreeable  diversity  among  the  bamboos, 
with  their  feathery-tufted  clusters. 

Travellers  are  unanimous  in  their  grateful  admira- 
tion for  this  tree,  which,  hence,  has  obtained  the  pet 
name  of  the  Traveller's  Tree.  We  are  told  that  it 
grows  principally  in  regions  where  there  is  no  water, 
and  that  it  has  the  admirable  property  of  secreting  for 
travellers  a  limpid  and  refreshing  supply  of  water.  Its 
large  white  leaves  curve  back  towards  the  main  trunk 
and  thus  form  cavities  in  which  the  water  is  gathered 
and  kept  for  the  thirsty  wayfarer.  Some  travellers  have, 
however,  failed  to  meet  with  this  hospitable  wonder 


TRAVELLERS  TREE. 


THE  WONDEE8   OF  VEGETATION.  63 

of  plants.  Miss  Ida  Pfeiffer,  who  has  been  three  times 
around  the  world,  was  unable  to  ascertain  the  facts ; 
she  even  states  that  the  natives  of  the  country  are  not 
agreed  on  the  subject,  and  assert  that  this  tree  only 
grows  on  moist  soil.  The  Island  of  Madagascar  is 
not  yet  sufficiently  explored  for  botanists  to  be  able 
to  add  their  conclusive  verdict  upon  its  vegetable 
productions.  On  the  other  hand,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  a  real  weeping-tree  (Caesalpima pluviosa) 
was  seen  some  years  ago  in  one  of  the  Canary  Islands, 
from  the  tufted  foliage  of  which  water  fell  like  copi- 
ous rain. 

THE   KAFFIA   PALMS. 

The  raffia  palms  are  more  elegant ;  their  long 
leaves  are  curved  back  as  if  to  adorn  with  their  graceful 
arabesques  the  summit  of  these  lofty  columns,  which 
resemble  the  pillars  of  an  edifice.  Comparing  this  ar- 
rangement with  the  manner  of  building  in  the  East, 
we  are  involuntarily  led  to  believe  that  this  vegetable 
architecture  has  furnished  the  original  type  of  By- 
zantine architecture.  The  harmony  of  this  natural 
temple  seems  to  invite  the  mind  to  meditation  and 
prayer,  even  more  effectually  than  the  Gothic  stone 
arches  which  close  the  vault  above  us  and  prevent 
the  aspirations  of  our  hearts  from  rising  heavenwards. 
In  these  palms  every  thing  is  of  colossal  size — a  fact 
which  we  can,  perhaps,  best  realize  by  seeing  the 
smthe  or  envelope  which  protects  the  young  flower, 
used  as  a  cradle!  Growing  frequently  to  the  size 
of  a  large  cup  nearly  two  yards  long,  it  is  used  for 


64:  THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

various  purposes.  In  the  accompanying  illustra- 
tion the  thick,  woody  spathe  of  a  large  palm  is  thus 
made  to  serve  as  a  bath  for  the  children  of  native 


women. 


The  Palm. 


CHAPTER  IY. 


PALM-TREES. THE    DATE. 

A  FTER  the  trees  of  which  we  have  spoken  and 
""•  which  are  mainly  remarkable  for  their  singularity, 
it  is  but  right  that  we  should  begin  our  description  of 
the  vegetable  world  with  the  illustrious  and  ancient 
family  of  palms. 

The  "  dynasty  of  palms,"  to  use  an  expression  of 
Linngeus,  reigns  over  the  tropical  regions  of  our  earth 
and  occupies  the  highest  rank  among  plants.  This 
supremacy  is  due  to  them  on  account  of  their  rich 
foliage,  their  beauty  and  elegance,  and  still  more  on 
account  of  the  important  services  which  they  render 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Tropics.  For  these  palms  act- 


68  THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

ually  supply  the  wants  of  their  existence,  furnishing 
besides  bread,  oil,  wine,  also  clothing  and  the  common 
tools  and  materials  for  building.  Moreover,  the  palm 
is  a  holy  tree  to  many  races :  to  the  Mohammedans 
the  date  palm  is  sacred  as  the  fruit  which  Adam  was 
permitted  to  bring  with  him  out  of  Eden — by  the 
Christian  all  palms  are  revered  as  having  furnished 
the  leaves  which  were  strewn  in  the  path  of  the 
Messiah. 

In  their  form,-  aspect  and  structure,  these  plants 
differ  essentially  from,  those  of  our  country.  A  single 
stem,  straight  and  slender,  rises  to  a  height  of  45,  60, 
or  even  75  feet,  perfectly  bare,  unbroken  by  a  single 
branch  or  leaf.  At  the  top  only  an  immense  plume 
of  feathery  leaves,  growing  in  a  bunch,  forms,  so  to 
speak,  the  capital  of  the  vegetable  column.  This 
tuft  may  be  from  nine  to  twelve  feet  long,  and  at  the 
roots  of  its  long  leaves  appear  the  fruits  of  the  palm- 
tree.  This  short  description  applies  especially  to  the 
date  palm,  well  known  as  the  "  prince  of  palms,"  and 
hence  as  the  prince  of  all  plants. 

Originally  a  native  of  Arabia  and  Northern  Africa, 
the  date  palm  is  pre-eminently  the  tree  of  the  desert, 
where  it  grows  in  nearly  every  oasis,  and  by  its  re- 
freshing shade,  its  fruits,  its  milk,  and  its  general  use- 
fulness, has  won  the  affection  of  the  natives  and  the 
admiring  sympathy  of  all  travellers. 

The  date,  says  Mr.  Ch.  Martins,  is  the  true  friend 
of  the  desert ;  there  alone  it  ripens  its  fruit ;  and  with- 
out it  the  Sahara  would  be  uninhabitable.  Arabic 
poetry  loves  to  praise  it  as  a  living  being  created  by 


THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION.  69 

God  on  the  sixth  day  of  creation,  at  the  same  time  with 
man,  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  conditions  under  which 
it  thrives.  The  Saharans  use  a  bold  but  expressive  fig- 
ure :  "  The  king  of  the  oasis,"  they  say,  "  must  plunge 
his  feet  in  the  water  and  his  head  in  the  fire  of  heaven." 
Science  confirms  this  assertion  in  a  manner,  for  it  is 
proved  that  it  requires  9.180°  of  accumulated  heat, 
spread  over  eight  months,  to  bring  the  fruits  of  the 
date  to  maturity. 

"  The  climate  of  the  Sahara  fulfils  these  condi- 
tions," adds  the  great  botanist.  "  The  mean  tem- 
perature required  is  from  68  to  73°  according  to 
locality.  The  heat  commences  in  April  and  contin- 
ues to  October.  During  the  summer  the  thermometer 
reaches  113°  and  even  125°  in  the  shade.  The  winter 
is  relatively  cold.  Dates  can  endure  dry  and  short 
cold  as  low  -as  21°  above  zero  and  a  heat  of  122°.  The 
radiating  sand  of  the  desert  cools  off  more  readily  than 
the  air,  and  preserves,  at  a  certain  depth,  a  degree  of 
freshness  which  invigorates  the  roots  of  the  trees. 
Rain  is  rare  in  the  Sahara ;  it  falls  only  in  winter  and 
woos  the  withered  plants  to  a  new  life.  Sometimes 
it  rains  in  torrents ;  but  these  gusts  are  of  short  dura- 
tion. At  Tougourt  and  Ouargla,  whole  years  pass  with- 
out a  drop  of  rain.  Hence  the  very  natural  admira- 
tion of  the  Arab  for  this  tree  with  its  sweet  fruits, 
which  grows  in  the  sand,  fed  by  brackish  waters  that 
would  be  fatal  to  almost  all  other  plants ;  which  re- 
mains flourishing  and  green  when  all  around  is  burnt 
up  by  the  fierce  rays  of  a  pitiless  sun ;  which  resists 
the  winds  that  may  bend  its  pliant  plume  to  the 


70  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

ground  but  cannot  break  its  strong  stipe,  composed  of 
interlaced  fibres,  nor  tear  it  from  the  soil  to  which  it 
clings  by  a  thousand  roots  that  strike  deep  and  defy 
the  tempest.  It  has  well  been  said  that  a  single  tree 
has  peopled  the  desert,  and  upon  it  alone  is  based  a 
civilization,  rudimentary  compared  to  our  own,  but  far 
advanced  beyond  the  merely  natural  state.  Its  fruits 
are  in  demand  throughout  the  whole  world,  suffice  to 
procure  all  necessary  imposts,  and  not  only  make  the 
Arabs  independent  but  affluent."  In  the  360  oases 
which  belong  to  France,  each  date-tree  is  taxed  from 
20  to  60  centimes,  according  to  the  oasis,  and  their  cul- 
tivation pays,  for  the  mean  produce  of  each  tree  is  val- 
ued at  about  three  francs. 

We  learn  also  from  Martins  that  in  order  to  obtain 
the  milk  of  the  date  the  Arabs  of  Tougourt  employ  the 
following  means :  They  take  off  the  crown  of  leaves, 
sparing  only  the  lower  ones.  The  section  has  the  form 
of  a  cone,  and  into  this  a  reed  is  then  inserted,  through 
which  the  liquid  runs  out  into  a  vessel,  which  in  its 
turn  is  emptied  into  another  suspended  from  the  leaves 
of  the  tree.  The  palm  does  not  always  die  after  the 
mutilation, — the  terminal  bud  grows  out  again,  and  the 
tree  gradually  recovers  and  nourishes  again.  The 
process  however  cannot  be  repeated  oftener  than  three 
times. 

The  tufts  of  palm-trees  form  a  kind  of  vast  parasol, 
under  which  the  air  can  circulate ;  but  the  sun  is  unable 
to  pierce  the  dense  canopy  of  leaves.  Shade,  air  and 
water  are  the  three  elements  which  permit  the  culti- 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.  71 

vation  of  many  plants  in  palm  gardens  in  spite  of  the 
burning  heat  of  summer. 

An  oasis  of  palms  is  a  veritable  paradise  in  the 
burning  waste  of  the  desert.  Such  an  oasis  is  graph- 
ically described  in  the  narrative  of  Mr.  Martins,  who 
once  accidentally  discovered  a  clump  of  these  marvel- 
lous trees  during  his  passage  across  the  Eastern  Saha- 
ra. "  The  boundless  desert,"  he  says,  "  was  stretching 
out  before  me.  The  sun,  high  above  the  round  hori- 
zon,— round  as  we  see  it  on  the  ocean  when  out  of  sight 
of  land — seemed  the  only  living  thing  in  the  midst  of 
death.  All  at  once  I  perceived  the  summits  of  palms, 
the  trunks  of  which  were  not  yet  visible.  I  thought 
it  an  illusion — a  mirage.  We  drew  nearer — the  tufts 
became  more  distinct,  but  the  trunks  could  not  yet  be 
seen.  The  caravan  halts  near  a  well.  I  hasten  toward 
the  palms  and  find  they  are  planted  at  the  bottom  of 
a  trough  nearly  24  feet  in  depth.  The  sand  had  been 
raised  on  all  sides ;  a  feeble  palisade  of  palm  leaves 
helped  to  keep  it  up  on  one  side,  on  the  other  sides 
crystals  of  sulphate  of  lime  of  all  sizes  and  shapes,  ar- 
ranged as  we  see  them  in  collections  of  minerals,  helped 
to  fix  the  shifting  sand.  At  the  bottom  of  the  trough 
the  dates  were  planted  irregularly ;  but  this  was  not 
the  slender,  elegant  palm  of  the  painter.  These  were 
trees  with  short,  thick  trunks  of  cylindrical  form  ;  look- 
ing for  all  the  world  like  the  short,  massive  columns 
of  an  Egyptian  temple,  or  of  a  moorish  mosque.  Sur- 
face roots,  joining  the  lower  part  of  the  trunk  to  the  soil, 
formed  a  pedestal  for  these  columns,  and  the  lofty  tufts 
on  high  resembled  exactly  the  vast  colonnades  of  an- 


72  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

cient  temples.  In  the  evening,  when  penetrating 
under  the  sombre  vaults  of  these  palms,  I  could  not 
resist  a  feeling  of  awe ;  for  these  palms,  majestic  and 
immovable  at  the  bottom  of  their  crater  of  sand  were 
a  fit  emblem  of  African  civilization,  unchanging  amid 
the  ever-changing  outside  world. 

The  family  of  palms  is  very  numerous,  and  the 
different  species  which  belong  to  it  (450  have  been 
counted)  are  of  remarkable  interest,  both  on  account 
of  their  strange  beauty  and  of  the  valuable  services 
which  they  render  to  man.  As  the  limits  of  this 
work  do  not  permit  us  to  examine  all  these  treasures, 
we  must  content  ourselves  with  a  few  that  are  most 
worthy  of  the  interest  and  curiosity  of  our  readers. 

THE   COCOA-NUT   TREE. 

Like  the  date-palm-tree,  rises  to  a  height  of  90  feet, 
with  a  straight  and  smooth  stem  crowned  with  a  cap- 
ital of  leaves  in  the  shape  of  a  plume — each  leaf  be- 
ing about  18  feet  long.  It  is  met  with  throughout 
the  whole  Torrid  Zone,  but  abounds  chiefly  near  the 
sea-coast.  All  the  wants  of  man,  in  his  primitive  con- 
dition, are  supplied  by  a  cocoa-nut  palm — by  its  fruit, 
its  seeds,  its  leaves,  and  the  other  parts  of  the  plant. 
The  following  narrative,  by  M.  Boniface  Guizot,  will 
give  an  excellent  idea  of  the  importance  and  the  na- 
ture of  its  usefulness  to  man. 

A  traveller  was  journeying  through  those  coun- 
tries lying  under  a  burning  sun,  where  the  freshness 
of  shade  is  rare  and  the  habitations  of  man  are  found 
only  at  considerable  distances  from  each  other.  Sink- 


THE    WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  73 

ing  with  fatigue,  the  exhausted  traveller  beheld  a  hut 
surrounded  by  trees  with  tall  straight  stems,  sur- 
mounted by  a  bunch  of  great  leaves,  some  standing 
upright,  others  hanging  down  gracefully  and  present- 
ing a  beautiful  and  elegant  appearance.  Nothing 
else  near  this  cabin  spoke  of  cultivation.  Encouraged 
by  this  sight,  the  traveller  made  a  last  struggle, 
reached  the  hut,  and  was  kindly  received  under  the 
hospitable  roof.  First  his  host  offers  him  a  slightly 
acid  drink,  which  quenched  his  thirst  and  refreshed 
him.  When  the  stranger  had  rested  himself  awhile, 
the  Indian  invited  him  to  partake  of  his  repast, 
and  -he  served  different  dishes  on  a  brown  platter 
shining  brightly  and  highly  polished ;  he  offered  him 
also  a  wine  possessing  an  extremely  pleasant  flavor. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  repast  he  brought  a  quantity 
of  excellent  comfits,  and  invited  him  to  try  an  excel- 
lent kind  of  brandy.  The  traveller  in  astonishment 
asked  the  Indian  how,  in  the  midst  of  this  desert,  he 
came  by  all  these  things. 

"  I  get  them  from  my  cocoa-nut  trees,"  answered 
the  Indian.  "  The  water  which  I  gave  you  on  your 
arrival  was  drawn  from  the  fruit  before  it  had  be- 
come ripe,  and  sometimes  the  nut  contains  three  or 
four  pounds  of  it.  This  palatable  nut  is  the  fruit  at 
its  maturity ;  this  milk,  which  you  find  so  pleasant, 
is  drawn  from  the  same  ripe  fruit ;  this  delicate  cab- 
bage is  made  from  the  top  leaves  of  the  tree ;  but  we 
do  not  often  indulge  in  this,  as  the  tree,  when  its  top 
is  thus  cut  off,  dies  soon  after.  This  wine,  which 
pleases  you  so  much,  is  also  got  from  the  cocoa.  We 


74  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

make  an  incision  in  the  tender  flower  stalks  and  a 
white  liquor  flows  forth,  which  we  gather  into  ves- 
sels and  which  is  known  as  palm  wine.  Exposed  to 
the  sim  it  becomes  sour  and  turns  into  vinegar. 
When  we  distil  it  we  obtain  this  excellent  brandy, 
which  you  have  tasted.  The  same  juice  has  also  fur- 
nished me  with  the  sugar  which  I  needed  for  pre- 
serving the  nut.  Finally,  all  these  dishes  and  uten- 
sils which  we  are  using  on  the  table  are  made  from 
the  shells  of  the  cocoa-nuts.  This  is  not  all — my 
house  even  I  owe  to  these  invaluable  trees ;  their 
wood  has  enabled  me  to  build  my  cabin ;  their  leaves, 
dried  and  interwoven,  make  the  roof;  and  these  same 
leaves  made  into  a  parasol  protect  me  from  the  sun 
when  I  walk  out.  These  clothes  which  I  wear  are 
woven  with  the  flbre-threads  got  from  the  leaves. 
Those  sieves  were  ready  made  in  the  parts  of  the 
tree  from  which  the  leaves  spring,  and  these  mats 
come  from  the  same  source.  These  same  leaves 
woven  into  a  tissue  make  sails  for  our  ships.  The 
coarse  hair  which  covers  the  nut  is  used  for  calk- 
ing ships,  as  it  lasts  forever  and  swells  when  ex- 
posed to  the  water.  Cables,  ropes  and  twine  are  all 
made  of  the  same  material.  Finally,  the  delicate  oil 
with  which  many  of  these  dishes  were  seasoned  and 
which  burns  in  my  lamp,  is  obtained  by  pressing  the 
freshly-gathered  fruit." 

The  stranger  listened  with  astonishment  and  won- 
der as  the  poor  Indian  showed  him  thus,  that  a  single 
variety  of  palms  furnished  him  not  only  all  the  ne- 
cessaries but  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life.  When 


TEE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  75 

the  traveller  was  about  to  leave  the  cabin  the  host 
said  to  him : 

"  I  wish  to  write  to  a  friend  in  town,  be  good 
enough  to  carry  my  letter  for  me,  I  pray  ! " 

"  Most  certainly  ;  and  is  the  cocoa  to  furnish  you 
also  your  writing  materials  ? " 

"  Certainly,"  answered  the  Indian ;  "  from  the  saw- 
dust of  the  branches  I  have  made  this  ink,  and  from 
the  leaves  this  parchment,  which  formerly  was  exclu- 
sively used  for  public  documents  and  records  of  im- 
portant events." 

THE     LAQBY 

At  the  time  when  the  return  of  spring  gives  mo- 
tion to  the  sluggish  sap  of  the  trees,  a  man  mounts 
to  the  top  of  a  date  palm,  climbing  up  the  stem  with 
no  other  assistance  than  what  he  obtains  from  his 
naked  feet,  and  a  cord  passed  round  his  waist  and 
round  the  tree.  He  is  armed  with  a  very  sharp 
hatchet.  Arrived  at  the  top,  from  which  the  rich 
plume  of  leaves  rises  proudly,  he  begins  to  hack  away, 
without  mercy,  cutting  off  all  the  branches  and  leaving 
only  four,  which  form  a  cross,  and  seem  to  point  to 
the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass.  Over  the  neck 
of  one  of  these  he  passes  a  slender  cord,  the  ends  of 
which  reach  to  the  ground,  and  between  two  of  the 
remaining  leaves  he  cuts  deep  into  the  poor  wounded 
tree.  The  laqby  cask  is  next  broached.  A  small 
jar  with  a  wide  mouth  is  hoisted  by  means  of  the 
cord  and  is  fixed  to  the  mouth  of  the  incision  that  has 
been  made.  Twelve  hours  afterward  it  can  be  taken 


76  TEE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

down  and  replaced  by  another.  It  is  full  of  a  pale 
gray  liquid,  resembling  weak  barley-water.  This  is 
fresh  laqby,  a  juice  almost  sickening  from  its  exces- 
sive sweetness,  but  useful  as  a  pleasant,  weak  laxative 
to  be  taken  in  the  morning.  A  few  hours  later  fer- 
mentation begins  in  the  vessel,  the  liquid  clears  up 
and  seems  to  boil ;  innumerable  bubbles  of  air  rise  to 
the  surface,  forming  a  light  foam,  and  if  you  taste  the 
sparkling  beverage  now,  you  will  not  sigh  for  the  vint- 
age of  champagne.  Laqby,  drunk  in  this  condition, 
is  harmless,  cheering,  without  intoxication,  and  pro- 
ducing no  evil  effects ;  the  fermentation  renders  it  re- 
freshing and  takes  away  its  laxative  properties.  But 
let  it  stand  another  half  day  and  this  liquor  will  be- 
come white  and  thick  like  milk,  with  a  penetrating 
odor,  and  a  slightly  acrid  taste,  and  in  this  state  it  in- 
toxicates like  brandy.  The  champagne  has  become  a 
white  beer  of  astonishing  alcoholic  strength.  It  is 
then  that  amateurs  love  it  best.  Many  a  good  Mussul- 
man and  his  scrupulous  wife  (who  veils  her  face  before 
a  glass  of  wine),  will  drink  in  public,  and  without  hes- 
itation, a  cup  of  laqby,  which  is  only  the  "  water  of 
the  palm." 

When  it  has  reached  this  stage  the  vessel  must  be 
emptied,  for  on  the  morrow  the  beverage  would  be 
found  spoiled  and  full  of  small  reddish  insects.  In  fact 
it  is  the  most  perishable  of  all  drinks,  and  has  to  be  con- 
sumed under  the  very  tree  from  which  it  is  drawn. 
All  attempts  to  regulate  or  arrest  the  fermentation 
have  been  fruitless.  It  preaches,  like  no  other  preach- 
er, the  poets'  doctrine,  carpe  diem.  In  Tripoli 


THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  77 

(northern  Africa),  the  Arabs  drink  their  laqby  daily, 
as  they  smoke  their  pipe  contemplatively  on  the  bank 
of  a  water-course. 

AKECA    PALM. 

By  the  side  of  the  champagne  palm  we  must 
mention  the  slim  areca  palm,  so  highly  esteemed 
by  the  Indians  for  its  leaves  and  its  fruits.  In  spite 
of  its  height,  which  often  reaches  40  feet,  the  stem  is 
exceedingly  slender,  and  it  is  only  by  means  of  its 
deep  roots  that  it  can  withstand  the  fierce  winds 
of  the  tropics.  Like  all  the  trees  of  this  class,  the 
areca  palm  also  is  crowned  writh  a  magnificent  plume 
of  gigantic  feathery  leaves,  some  of  which  measure  15 
feet  in  length ;  if  cut  before  they  leave  the  massive 
bud  in  which  they -are  at  first  carefully  enclosed,  they 
furnish  the. famous  palm  cabbage,  a  great  favorite 
with  Indians  and  Europeans  alike. 

A  plantation  of  arecas  is  continually  producing 
fruit,  and  often  on  the  same  tree  three  stages  of  ripe- 
ness may  be  observed  in  as  many  clusters  of  fruit. 
These  fruits,  when  about  the  size  of  an  egg,  grow  in 
groups,  and  assume,  as  they  ripen,  the  color  of  an 
orange.  They  are  sometimes  gathered  before  being 
ripe,  for  the  sake  of  their  pulp,  called  pinang,  which 
is  then  of  an  agreeable  taste.  But  generally  the  grow- 
ers wait  till  the  usual  six  months  bring  perfect  matu- 
rity, because  thepinang  is  changed  into  a  seed  of  the 
size  of  a  nutmeg  ;  this  nut  is  one  of  the  three  ingre- 
dients which  make  up  the  famous  betel,  so  extensively 
chewed  by  the  Indians,  and  which  gives  to  their  teeth 


78  THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

a  peculiar  reddish  black  color,  extremely  repulsive  to 
foreigners. 

The  betel  is  composed  of  small  pieces  of  arecanut 
rolled  up  with  a  little  fresh  lime  in  the  leaves  of  the 
betel  pepper. 

We  are  puzzled  to  know  how  these  ingredients  can 
be  agreeable  to  the  taste,  yet  it  is  certain  that  the  prac- 
tice of  using  the  betel  nut  is  of  ancient  origin  among 
the  East  Indians,  and  at  least  as  general  there  as  the 
use  of  tobacco  in  Europe  and  America.  Women  even 
habitually  use  it ;  and  the  practice  dates  from  such  a 
remote  time  that  there  is  no  tradition  among  them 
that  the  teeth  were  ever  allowed  to  retain  their  nat- 
ural color.  On  the  contrary,  white  teeth  have  ever 
been  looked  upon  as  extremely  ugly,  resembling 
dogs'  teeth  !  All  the  effects  of  the  betel  nut  are  not, 
however,  prejudicial.  It  strengthens  the  stomach  and 
makes  the  breath  very  agreeable.  But  it  destroys  the 
enamel  of  the  teeth  and  the  teeth  themselves — the 
lime  having,  probably,  most  to  do  with  this  efiect. 

The  Indian  betel  must  not  be  confounded  with 
that  used  by  the  Turkish  women ;  the  latter  has  the 
advantage  of  the  former  in  usefulness,  and  is  said 
to  possess  none  of  its  decided  disadvantages. 

The  Indians  always  prepare  their  betel  from  the 
newly-gathered  areca  nut  and  the  betel  pepper.  The 
color  of  betel  is  reddish,  and  gives  the  same  color  to 
the  saliva  ;  the  latter  has  to  be  discarded  till  it  loses 
its  redness — a  very  inconvenient  necessity,  which  how- 
ever, does  not  hinder  the  Indian  women  from  using 
it.  The  English  often  call  the  areca  palm  the  betel-nut- 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.  79 

tree — but  the  name  does  not  at  all  belong  to  the  tree, 
which  is  known  to  botanists  only  as  the  areca  palm. 

THE    ELAIS    PALM. 

Among  the  precious  plants  that  grow  in  the  for- 
ests of  Africa,  beyond  Cape  Verde,  there  is  a  palm,  the 
leaves  of  which  are  spread  out  at  the  height  of  thirty 
feet  from  the  ground,  and  which  the  natives  call  their 
Friend.  Even  those  who  have  visited  the  splendid 
forests  of  the  Tropics  are  struck  with  the  beauty  of 
this  magnificent  tree,  the  Eldis  Guineensis,  which 
clothes  all  the  slopes  inclined  towards  the  sea,  and 
richly  rewards  the  care  bestowed  upon  it  by  the  na- 
tives. And  yet  its  beauty  is  by  no  means  superior  to 
its  usefulness,  as  the  exports  from  Liverpool  to  New 
York  attest.  And  yet  so  far,  of  its  many  products, 
oil  only  has  been  an  object  of  extended  commerce  and 
exportation.  The  natives,  on  the  contrary,  not  only 
draw  wine  and  oil  from  the  noble  tree,  but  they  man- 
ufacture from  it  their  fishing-lines,  hats,  baskets,  wood- 
en tools,  and  even  timber  for  their  houses.  It  is  their 
companion  and  stay,  charged  by  nature  to  subserve  all 
their  wants  from  day  to  day. 

Formerly  the  manufacture  of  this  palm  oil  was 
left  entirely  to  the  natives ;  but  now  it  is  carried  on  by 
foreigners  in  large  farms  among  the  forests  of  the 
coast.  When  the  seeds  are  ripe  they  are  gathered, 
cast  into  troughs  and  trampled  under  foot  by  negroes, 
who  are  provided  with  w^ooden  sandals. 

Palm  oil  is  one  of  the  most  important  products  of 
the  African  coast.  The  elais  does  not  grow  under 


80  THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

the  same  conditions  as  the  sesamum  which  produces 
the  gurgelly  oil  of  commerce,  for  it  is  exclusively 
found  in  the  tropical  regions  of  Africa.  It  grows  in 
large  clusters  in  sheltered  and  fertile  spots,  and  its 
magnificent  appearance  recalls  that  of  the  date  palm 
of  the  Arabs.  The  oil  is  generally  exported  in  its 
crude  state  and  refined  abroad,  while  at  Marseilles  it 
is  made  to  produce  soap  also,  and  candles. 

THE   BOURBON    PALM. 

Linnaeus  gave  to  the  palms  the  pompous  title  of  the 
Princes  of  the  Vegetable  World.  It  may  be  truly 
said  that  they  are  the  aristocracy  of  the  world  of 
plants,  and  on  account  of  their  beauty  and  majestic 
stature  they  are  worthy  of  the  name  that  he  gave 
them. 

The  bourbon  palm,  and  especially  the  red  lata- 
nier,  as  it  is  called  in  Louisiana  also,  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  of  the  family  of  palms.  It  came  origi- 
nally from  the  Southern  provinces  of  China,  and  is 
spread  over  the  whole  of  India.  The  flower  is  of  a 
superb  red  color.  The  leaves  are  used  by  the  natives 
to  thatch  their  huts,  and  the  fibres  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  light  hats,  as  comfortable  as  our  Panama  hats, 
but  very  different  in  form  and  structure.  This  tree 
only  flowers  twice  in  a  century. 

The  frontispiece  of  Hindoo  manuscripts  very  fre- 
quently consists  of  a  drawing  representing  the  esteem 
in  which  palms  are  held  in  India :  A  man  is  seen 
reading,  reposing  under  the  shade  of  one  of  these 
trees.  In  fact,  India  is  indebted  to  the  palms  not  only 


BOURBON   PALM. 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.  83 

for  the  food  of  her  children,  but  also  for  nearly  all  that 
is  necessary  for  life.  Three  palms  especially  are  of 
great  service :  the  sago  palm,  the  cocoa,  and  the 
date.  The  sago  palm,  when  in  bloom,  gives  to  man 
a  perfectly  amazing  amount  of  a  farinaceous  product. 
The  cocoa,  on  the  other  hand,  ministers  quite  alone 
to  all  his  wants.  Food,  bread  and  wine,  clothing, 
shelter,  articles  of  daily  use,  all  are  provided  by  the 
cocoa.  Nor  is  the  date  palm  less  valuable.  We 
know  what  a  wonderful  source  of  food  it  is  to  the  Af- 
ricans. These  three  palms  deserve  the  same  consider- 
ation from  the  inhabitants  of  their  respective  coun- 
tries which  we  give  to  wheat  and  the  vine,  and  the 
natives  are  not  ungrateful.  In  more  than  one  ancient 
religion  we  find  that  these  trees  were  the  objects  of 
adoration  on  the  part  of  grateful  nations. 

The  traveller  in  Palestine  or  Syria  contemplates 
with  a  different  interest  the  palms  of  the  Holy  Land. 
The  date  is  the  commonest  tree  in  these  regions. 
"  Everywhere,"  says  a  recent  traveller,  "  we  see  its 
round  stipe  balancing  high  in  the  air  its  ample  clus- 
ters of  fruit,  and  still  higher  above  them  its  magnifi- 
cent plume  of  leaves.  Nothing  is  more  beautiful  than 
an  avenue  of  these  noble  trees ;  and  one  can  conceive 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  prophets  of  the  Bible 
and  the  poets  of  the  East  have  celebrated  it  in  their 
songs. 

THE   WAX   PALM. 

"We  cannot  leave  the  chapter  on  palms  without 
mentioning  one  which  yields  wax,  the  carnahuba 


84  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

(Corypha  conifera),  to  which  Humboldt  gave  the 
name  of  the  Tree  of  Life.  It  is  one  of  these  trees, 
says  M.  Denis  in  his  work  upon  Brazil,  which 
provide  for  all  the  wants  of  a  village  in  the  midst 
of  a  desert.  Owing  to  the  hardness  of  its  wood 
and  the  manner  in  which  its  foliage  is  arranged,  a 
commodious  cabin  can  be  constructed  by  the  aid  of 
two  or  three  carnahuba,  without  employing  any  other 
material  than  a  little  mud  to  plaster  the  walls.  The 
leaves  are  used  in  the  manufacture  of  countless  arti- 
cles, mats,  hats,  ladders,  baskets,  and,  in  addition  to  all, 
serve  as  food  for  cattle.  In  times  of  great  drought 
even  the  pith  of  the  young  wood  can  be  given  to 
cattle  and  they  subsist  upon  it  till  better  fodder  can 
be  had.  Arrived  at  its  full  growth  a  nutritious  starch 
is  obtained  from  the  tree,  the  far-famed  farina  of  our 
day.  Its  fruit  is  pleasant,  and  would  suit  everybody, 
at  least  as  long  as  it  is  not  fully  ripe.  But  the  main 
production  of  the  carnahuba,  which  gives  it  a  special 
place  in  vegetable  economy,  is  the  wax  which  appears 
in  the  axes  of  the  young  leaves  in  the  shape  of  a  glu- 
tinous powder  or  larger  fragments  of  irregular  shape. 
This  powder,  obtained  by  the  use  of  fire,  assumes 
gradually  the  consistency  and  odor  of  wax.  Small  ta- 
pers are  made  of  it  in  the  countries  where  it  is  grown, 
and  large  quantities  exported  to  Europe,  to  be  mixed 
with  tallow  and  manufactured  into  candles.  This  tree 
furnishes,  moreover,  beautifully  mottled  or  clouded 
canes,  which  take  a  high  polish  and  are  eagerly  sought 
after  in  commerce.  Another  wax  palm  (Ceroxylon  an- 
dicola\  growing  on  the  highest  table-lands  of  the  Andes 


PALMS   OF   THE   SEYCHELLES. 


THE  WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.  87 

and  frequently  reaching  a  height  of  215  feet,  changes  its 
whole  outer  bark  into  wax,  which  the  Indians  scrape 
off,  purify  and  change  into  candles  or  use  as  soap. 
It  is  in  Havana  that  we  admire  to  greatest  advantage 
the  beautiful  family  of  palms.  Palm  avenues  are  often 
seen  in  the  Island  of  Cuba  planted  in  front  of  the 
white  mansions  that  overlook  the  sugar-cane  fields. 
Here  are  long  avenues  of  palms,  there  of  mangoes  and 
orange-trees,  and  at  the  other  end  lie  the  gardens  and 
vast  plantations,  where  the  negroes,  men  women  and 
children,  renew  each  day  their  labors. 

In  Cuba  the  air  is  not  excessively  hot,  and  yet  per- 
fectly transparent.  Light  clouds,  says  Mr.  Dana,  are 
floating  at  mid-height  in  the  serene  sky,  the  sun  is 
brilliant>  and  the  luxuriant  flora  of  a  perpetual  summer 
covers  the  whole  country.  Everywhere  rise  these 
wondrous  palms.  Many  of  the  other  trees  resemble 
ours,but  these  form  the  distinctive  features  of  tropical 
climates.  The  royal  palm,  especially,  is  characteristic 
of  the  tropics — it  cannot  grow  outside  the  narrow  belt 
which  encircles  our  globe,  lying  close  to  the  Equator. 
It  has  no  special  beauty  of  its  own,  it  gives  no  shade 
and  bears  no  fruit  that  is  useful  to  man,  and  yet,  with 
all  these  disadvantages  and  drawbacks,  it  has  the  pow- 
er to  attract  us  irresistibly,  and  once  seen  it  is  never 
again  forgotten. 

Palm-trees  are  however  not  unknown  in  the  United 
States ;  in  Key  West,  for  instance,  cocoa-nut  palms 
are  seen  overshadowing  every  thing,  and  presenting,  in 
the  young  trees  especially,  such  grace  of  form  as  veg- 
etation shows  nowhere  else.  Date  palms  also,  bear- 


88  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

ing  the  dates  of  commerce,  are  quite  numerous  in  Flor- 
ida; and  at  Cape  Sable  there  are  groups  of  royal 
palms  of  matchless  beauty,  perhaps,  the  first  on  earth 
through  whose  leaves  the  wires  of  the  telegraph  flashed 
their  mysterious  messages.  Plants  which  furnish -wax 
are  found  even  in  the  United  States.  Such  is,  for  in- 
stance, the  Myrica  cerifera  of  Louisiana,  rising  at  times 
to  a  height  of  twelve  feet,  which  was  the  first  of  its  kind 
known  in  Europe,  where  the  seed  was  imported  and 
raised  in  hot-houses.  A  variety  is  found  in  the  Middle 
States,  Myrica,  Pennsylvania,  Carolinensis,  which  does 
not  grow  above  five  feet  high ;  the  leaves  are  broader 
and  stouter  and  the  fruit  is  larger.  Marshes  and  damp 
and  sandy  spots  on  the  sea-shore  are  its  favorite  homes. 
A  very  fertile  bush  furnishes  about  seven  pounds  of 
berries,  which  produce  nearly  two  pounds  of  wax. 
The  latter  is  removed  from  the  seeds  by  means  of 
boiling  water,  in  which  the  berries  are  violently  shaken 
and  bruised.  Candles  made  from  this  vegetable  wax 
perfume  the  room ;  they  give  a  bright  and  clear  light, 
especially  if,  as  is  usually  the  case  here,  a  little  tallow 
is  added  during  the  process.  This  wax  myrtle,  or  can- 
dle-berry myrtle,  enlivens  the  landscape  by  the  bright- 
ness of  its  foliage,  which  is  evergreen ;  it  perfumes 
and  purifies,  by  its  balsamic  exhalations,  the  insalu- 
brious air  of  the  marshes  in  the  midst  of  which  it 
flourishes. 

We  will  close  our  remarks  on  palms  by  mention- 
ing those  of  the  Islands  of  the  Seychelles,  of  which 
Pyrard  de  Laval,  in  his  narrative  of  a  voyage  to  the 
Maldives,  says  :  "  On  the  sea-coast  is  found  a  certain 


ARBORESCENT   FERNS. 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  01 

nut,  which  the  sea  sometimes  throws  up,  as  large  as 
a  man's  head  and  looking  very  much  like  two  melons 
joined  together.  They  call  it  Tavarcarre,  and  be- 
lieve it  to  be  the  fruit  of  some  trees  growing  beneath 
the  sea.  The  Portuguese  call  it  the  cocoa  of  the 
Maldives.  It  has  remarkable  medicinal  properties, 
and  is  very  dear.  So  precious  was  it,  that  when  a 
native  wished  to  injure  a  neighbor,  he  accused  him 
of  having  found  one  of  these  nuts  and  concealed  it 
from  the  king,  to  whom  it  should  be  given  up ;  and 
when  one  became  suddenly  rich  it  was  commonly 
said  that  he  had  either  found  Tavarcarre  or  amber,  as 
if  it  were  a  priceless  treasure." 

The  fruit  of  this  palm  was  long  known  as  nux 
niedica.  The  tree  itself  bears  the  name  of  Lodoicea. 
I  ts  huge  fruit  is  often  carried  on  the  waves  to  consid- 
erable distances,  and  hence  arose  the  idea  that  the  nuts 
were  produced  by  submarine  trees. 

The  realm  of  palm-trees  is  not  without  its  mocking 
imitations,  in  which  nature  occasionally  seems  to  de- 
light. A  variety  of  ferns,  called  arborescent  ferns, 
and  especially  numerous  in  New  Zealand,  closely  im- 
itates the  form  and  shape  of  palm-trees,  and  gives  to 
those  distant  landscapes  an  appearance  utterly  unlike 
that  of  any  other  part  of  the  world. 


The  Bamboo. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

BANANA,   BAMBOO,   BAOBAB. 

npHESE  are  perhaps  the  three  strongest  workmen 
^-     employed  in   the  vegetable  world — they  have 
withstood  centuries,  and  no  living  thing  rivals  them 
in  power. 

Certain  writers  have  tried  to  prove  that  the  ba- 
nana was  the  tree  of  life  placed  in  the  middle  of  par- 
adise, the  forbidden  fruit,  which,  tempting  the  mother 
of  the  human  race,  "  caused  all  our  woes ;"  and  besides, 
that  it  was  of  its  leaves  that  Adam  and  Eve  made 
themselves  aprons  when,  after  their  sin,  they  dreaded 
to  meet  their  Creator. 

The  inhabitants  of  America,  Africa,  and   India, 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.  93 

and  the  natives  of  the  Pacific  islands  fully  appreciate 
the  immense  value  of  this  plant,  which  sustains  a 
large  part  of  the  races  inhabiting  tropical  regions. 

"We  have  the  banana,  in  Florida  at  least,  as  a  plant 
of  our  own  also.  Here,  as  everywhere,  it  is  not  a 
tree,  but  annual  in  its  growth,  although  the  root  is 
perennial.  In  one  year  the  banana  grows  from  the 
root  to  about  twelve  feet  high,  bears  its  one  bunch  of 
fruit  and  dies.  Other  shoots  are  however  coming  up 
in  the  mean  time  from  the  root ;  they  in  turn  bear 
their  fruit,  each  after  a  year's  growth,  and  this  meth- 
od of  growing  brings  the  plant  into  extensive  and 
beautiful  groups.  Every  yard  in  Key  West  has  its 
banana  patch,  and  the  grand  glossy  leaves  lend  great 
beauty  to  the  humble  cottage  as  well  as  to  the  impos- 
ing mansion., 

For  the  plant  sends  up  a  single  round  and  straight 
stem  of  a  yellowish  green  color,  which  terminates  in 
a  fanlike  expanse  of  large  oval  leaves,  six  feet  long 
and  from  eighteen  to  twenty  inches  in  breadth.  A 
great  strong  midrib  traverses  the  leaf,  but  the  latter 
is  so  tender  that  it  is  almost  invariably  torn  into 
shreds  by  the  winds.  The  flower  bud  is  purple,  con- 
trasting iinely  with  the  green  of  the  leaves.  It  ex- 
pands into  a  noble  spike  of  flowers  about  four  feet 
high,  rising  from  the  centre  of  the  leaves  eight  or 
nine  months  after  the  planting  of  the  vegetable. 
The  flowers  are  soon  followed  by  the  fruit,  which  is 
eight  inches  long  by  one  in  diameter.  These  long 
spikes  of  fruit  sometimes  weigh  70  pounds,  .and  look 
like  a  gigantic  cluster  of  grapes  formed  of  a  large 


94  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

number  of  fruits  which  frequently  count  as  many  as 
150  or  160.  When  the  tree  is  stripped  of  its  fruits 
the  stem  also  is  cut  down,  which  prevents  the  plant 
from  drying  up  and  causes  the  suckers  at  its  base  to 
grow  up  more  rapidly,  providing  thus  for  another 
harvest  six  months  afterward.  The  growing  plant  is 
aided  from  time  to  time  by  cultivating  the  soil  around 
it,  but  this  is  all,  and  hence  banana  plantations  usually 
placed  near  rivers  are  easily  kept  up  with  very  little 
care.  The  dressing  of  bananas  for  the  table  is  equally 
simple,  as  the  fruit  is  cooked  either  in  boiling  water, 
on  the  oven  or  among  hot  ashes.  The  fibres  of  the 
stem  are  used  to  manufacture  coarse  shirts,  and  the 
green  part  is  given  as  food  to  cattle.  The  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Moluccas  subject  the  leaves  to  a  certain 
process  which  enables  them  to  convert  them  into  a 
kind  of  linen. 

Weight  for  weight  the  banana  is  inferior  to  wheat 
as  nutritive  food,  but  much  more  is  produced  on  the 
same  extent  of  ground.  An  acre  of  land  planted  in 
wheat  would  not  yield  sufficient  to  support  two  per- 
sons, whereas  the  same  amount  of  land  in  the  tropics, 
planted  in  bananas,  would  produce  food  enough  for 
the  support  of  fifty  people !  It  has  been  calculated 
that  a  strip  of  land  of  two  hundred  square  acres  is 
capable  of  furnishing  more  than  four  thousand 
pounds  of  nutritive  substance ;  from  which  it  follows 
that  the  produce  of  this  vegetable  is  to  that  of  wheat 
sown  upon  an  equal  breadth  of  ground  as  133  to  1, 
and  to  that  of  potatoes  as  44  to  1. 

In  the  abundant  productions  of  the  tropics  we  find 


THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION.  95 

a  striking  comment  upon  human  nature  and  the  con- 
dition of  its  development.  It  proves  that  the  progress 
of  man  is  measured  by  the  urgency  and  the  contin- 
gencies of  his  necessities.  The  banana-tree  feeds  the 
inhabitants  of  the  regions  in  which  it  grows  without 
demanding  labor — daily  food  is  within  their  reach, 
sufficing  for  all  their  bodily  wants  without  the  neces- 
sity on  their  part  of  active  exertions ;  consequently, 
they  remain  in  a  condition  of  comparative  mental 
somnolence,  and  we  find  the  character  of  their  inert 
lives  clearly  written  in  their  listless  faces. 

In  Java  there  are  bananas  the  appearance  of  which 
produces  a  deep  and  permanent  impression  upon  the 
mind.  M.  de  Molins  thus  describes  his  feelings  upon 
arriving  in  the  forests  of  that  island : — 

"  After  a  journey  of  an  hour  and  a  half  through 
the  open  country  we  found  ourselves  in  the  jungle. 
It  was  a  confused  mass  of  vegetation,  in  which,  how- 
ever, the  wild  banana,  with  its  leaves  a  pale  green  on 
one  side,  and  on  the  other  spotted  with  red  and  brown, 
seemed  to  be  the  most  prevalent  tree.  We  steered 
our  way  through  this  sea  of  plants  of  all  kinds,  and 
admired  in  it  above  all  the  tree-ferns  with  their  arbor- 
escent stems,  and  graceful  and  regular  leaves — those 
marvellous  ferns  which  vie  equally  with  the  flowers 
by  their  exquisite  form,  with  the  birds  by  their  beau- 
tiful color,  and  with  the  trees  by  their  imposing 
height. 

"  All  at  once  the  native  who  went  with  us  as 
guide,  and  who  was  aware  of  the  object  of  our  expedi- 
tion, stopped  and  called  us :  '  Look  here ! '  *  Where  ? : 


96  THE    WONDERS    OF    YE(lETATIOS. 

I  asked.  'There,'  lie  said,  Ms  the  first  of  the  giant 
trees,  sir,  the  one  you  saw  from  town,  sir.' 

He  pointed  out  to  me  a  kind  of  tower  adorned  at 
the  summit  with  brandies  and  flowers,  a  structure 
such  as  no  foreigner  surely  would  ever  have  taken  for 
a  tree. 

a  This  is  only  a  small  one,"  said  the  guide,  "  but 
in  going  higher  up,  you  will  find  trees  of  larger 
growth." 

In  fact,  although  the  specimen  before  our  eyes 
seemed  to  be  almost  supernatural  in  its  size,  we  saw 
as  we  came  to  the  borders  of  the  immense  forest,  that 
as  we  proceeded  the  trees  became  larger  and  larger 
still.  One  remarkable  circumstance  was  that  they 
were  almost  all  diseased  ;  many  of  them  were  black 
at  the  top  and  stretched  far  into  the  air  their  huge, 
leafless  arms.  I  was  told  that  the  sun  was  the  cause 
of  this,  and  that  these  vigorous  trees  could  not  endure 
the  fierceness  of  its  rays. 

I  am  not  able,  now  that  I  have  no  longer  these 
giants  of  the  forest  before  my  eyes — to  express  the 
sense  of  awe  excited  in  me  by  the  sight  of  these 
colossi,  veritable  patriarchs  of  the  forest,  many  of 
which,  no  doubt,  had  witnessed  the  earliest  creations 
of  nature,  and  belonged  to  epochs  when  the  earth  was 
still  in  its  first  vigorous  youth,  while  now  they  sur- 
rounded me  with  their  gigantic  trunks  and  shaded 
me  with  the  foliage  of  their  enormous  branches. 

Humboldt-  represents  the  bananas  as  everywhere 
found  in  company  with  palms.  These  trees,  he  says, 
are  the  ornaments  of  moist  climates.  Their  fruits 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  97 

furnish  the  food  of  almost  all  the  races  that  live  in 
the  Torrid  Zone.  As  the  farinaceous  cereals  have  been 
an  unfailing  resource  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  North, 
the  banana  has  never  disappointed  the  nations  that 
dwell  near  the  equator.  According  to  Semitic  tradi- 
tions, this  productive  plant  was  first  found  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Euphrates ;  according  to  others  it  first 
grew  in  India,  on  the  skirts  of  the  Himalaya.  Greek 
legends  state  that  cereals  first  grew  on  the  fields  of 
Enna,  in  Sicily.  But  the  fruits  of  Ceres,  extended  by 
cultivation  to  all  the  northern  countries,  present  only 
monotonous  fields,  which  add  little  to  the  picturesque 
charm  of  the  landscape,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
inhabitant  of  the  tropics,  who  multiplies  his  banana- 
plantations,  propagates  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
majestic  forms  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 

BAMBOOS. 

There  is  no  tree  known  on  earth  which  subserves 
so  many  purposes  as  the  bamboo.  The  Indian  ob- 
tains from  it  part  of  his  food,  many  of  his  household 
utensils,  and  a  wood  at  once  lighter  and  capable  of 
bearing  greater  strains  than  heavier  timber  of '  the 
same  size.  Besides,  in  expeditions  in  the  tropics  under 
the  rays  of  a  vertical  sun,  bamboo  trunks  have  more 
than  once  been  used  as  barrels,  in  which  a  water, 
much  purer  than  could  be  preserved  in  vessels  of  any 
other  kind,  is  kept  fresh  for  the  crew.  Upon  the 
west  coast  of  South  America,  and  in  the  large  islands 
of  Asia,  bamboos  furnish  all  the  materials  for  the  con- 
struction of  houses  at  once  pleasant,  substantial,  and 


98  THE    WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

preferable  to  those  of  stone,  which  the  frequently  re- 
curring earthquakes  bring  down  upon  the  heads  of  the 
lodgers. 

An  illustration  of  bamboos  as  they  appear  in  the 
tropics,  heads  the  present  chapter. 

Leaving  the  immense  size  of  these  plants  out  of 
consideration,  we  would  at  the  first  glance  relegate 
them  either  to  the  class  of  grasses  or  of  reeds — their 
appearance  seeming  to  indicate  that  they  belong  to 
former  class,  while  the  structure  of  the  long  hollow 
stem,  with  its  joints  and  sharp-pointed  leaves,  presents 
all  the  characteristics  of  the  latter.  Botanists,  how- 
ever, have  at  last  decided  that  bamboos  are  a  tribe  of 
grasses. 

But  the  name  cannot  alter  the  thing  itself,  and  it 
is  not  our  purpose  here  to  discuss  the  somewhat  arbi- 
trary classification  of  botanists.  We  prefer  to  con- 
sider these  plants  simply  as  we  find  them,  and  to  note 
their  distinctive  characteristics  without  troubling  our- 
selves about  the  Greek  or  Latin  names  which  they 
are  made  to  bear. 

These  plants  are  found  only  in  the  Torrid  Zone — 
for  the  reason  either  that  the  heat  of  the  tropics  is 
necessary  to  their  development  or  that  their  cultiva- 
tion has  never  yet  been  attempted  in  temperate  cli- 
mates under  favorable  circumstances.  Of  the  170 
species  discovered  by  modern  travellers,  five  or  six  are 
specially  prominent. 

The  loftiest  of  the  bamboos  is  the  Sammot.  In 
the  tracts  where  it  grows  in  the  greatest  perfection  it 
sometimes  rises  to  the  height  of  100  feet,  with  a  stern 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  99 

only  18  inches  in  diameter  at  the  base.  The  wood 
itself  is  not  more  than  an  inch  in  thickness.  The  fact 
that  the  bamboo  is  hollow  has  made  it  eminently  use- 
ful for  a  variety  of  purposes — it  serves  as  a  measure 
for  liquids,  and  if  fitted  with  a  lid  and  a  bottom, 
trunks  and  barrels  are  made  of  it.  Small  boats  even 
are  made  of  the  largest  trunks  by  strengthening  them 
with  strips  of  other  wood  where  needed. 

After  the  sammot,  the  next  largest  of  the  bamboo 
species  is  the  Illy,  which  usually  reaches  a  height 
of  from  60  to  70  feet.  It  is  used  for  the  same  pur- 
poses as  the  Sammot)  and,  like  it,  prefers  a  moist,  rich 
soil. 

The  third  variety  prevails  throughout  Southern 
Asia,  both  on  the  continent  and  in  the  larger  islands. 
It  rises  to  the  height  of  50  feet.  It  is  employed  for 
the  same  purposes  to  which  the  other  two  varieties 
are  applied,  but  is  much  more  useful  than  either  of 
these.  For  example,  the  young  sprouts,  of  the  stem 
and  of  the  root,  of  the  Telin — for  such  is  the  name 
given  to  this  bamboo  —  are  excellent  food  and  are 
eaten  as  we  eat  asparagus,  either  prepared  with  vine- 
gar and  sauces  or  with  other  viands.  European  colo- 
nists are  as  fond  of  these  shoots  as  the  natives  them- 
selves. The  wood  of  the  Telin  unites  strength  and 
lightness  in  a  much  more  extraordinary  degree  than 
any  other  wood,  and  cut  into  thin  planks  or  split  into 
laths  it  is  admirably  suited  for  house-building  in  the 
tropics. 

A  still  smaller  species  of  the  bamboo,  which  is 
not  applied  to  so  many  purposes  in  domestic  economy, 


100  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

industry  and  agriculture,  is  the  Ampel,  which,  how- 
ever, furnishes  levers,  carts,  ladders,  and  many  similar 
objects.  The  Indians,  when  employed  upon  lofty 
palm-trees  collecting  the  palm- wine  at  a  height  of  a  100 
feet  above  the  ground,  are  not  afraid  of  going  from 
one  tree  to  another  means  of  a  simple  bridge  made 
of  ampel-wood.  The  airy  bridge  consists  of  a  single 
long  stem  of  this  tree  and  another  lighter  one  serves 
as  a  hand  rail.  The  young  shoots,  like  those  of  the 
telin,  are  used  for  food.  It  is  in  this  class  of  plants  that 
we  meet  with  the  iron- wood — as  it  is  called  in  India 
— which  gives  out  sparks  under  the  blows  of  a  hatchet. 
Its  hardness  is  unequalled,  and  yet  it  can  be  split  up 
into  the  finest  wands  and  in  this  form  is  much  more 
suitable  for  delicate  basket-work  than  the  osier.  Even 
cloth  of  a  certain  kind  is  made  from  this  bamboo. 

We  have  still  to  mention  the  Tcho  of  the  Chinese, 
which  furnishes  them-  a  solid  paper,  and  is  used  in 
manufacturing  their  large  parasols.  Painters  often 
use  it  as  canvas.  There  is  also  the  Teba,  from  which 
hedges  are  made  and  the  Arundo  scriptoria  of  Lin- 
naeus, so  called,  because  the  Indian  authors  obtain  their 
pens  from  it. 

These  latter  species  prefer  a  dry,  light  soil,  and 
are  equally  acclimatized.  The  sweet  interior  of  their 
young  branches  is  a  nourishing  food,  made  use  of  by 
man  and  also  by  herbivorous  animals.  There  is  a 
correspondence  between  the  course  of  the  moon  and 
the  vegetation  of  these  plants  from  which  has  arisen 
the  superstition  that  this  satellite  regulates  their  growth 
by  its  influence,  a  superstition  confined  by  no  means 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          101 

to  the  Chinese,  but  quite  common  also  among  our 
negroes.  The  young  shoots,  which  grow  in  bunches 
at  the  roots  of  the  bamboos — the  product  of  the  under- 
ground germ — grow  with  such  amazing  rapidity  that 
they  may  be  literally  said  to  be  seen  growing.  In 
one  day  they  obtain  the  height  of  several  feet, 
and  with  the  microscope,. their  development  can  be 
easily  watched.  But  the  most  remarkable  feature 
about  the  bamboo  is  their  blossoming.  With  all  this 
marvellous  rapidity  of  growth  they  bloom  only  twice 
in  a  century,  the  flower  appearing  at  the  end  of  fifty 
years.  Like  other  grasses,  they  die  after  having  borne 
seed. 

THE    BAOBAB. 

This  plant  of  monstrous  size,  the  most  colossal  and 
the  most  ancient  vegetable  monument  on  earth,  has 
round,  woolly  leaves,  which  consist  of  from  three  to 
seven  leaflets  radiating  from  a  common  centre  and 
giving  them  somewhat  the  appearance  of  a  hand;  and 
magnificent  white  flowers.  It  is  an  enormous  tree, 
holding  among  plants  the  place  that  the  elephant 
holds  among  animals — a  hoary  witness  of  the  last 
changes  which  the  earth  has  undergone  and  of  del- 
uges that  have  buried  beneath  their  waves  the  pro- 
ductions of  early  ages.  Several  baobabs  that  have 
been  measured  were  found  to  be  from  70  to  77  feet 
in  circumference.  From  its  branches  hang  at  times 
colossal  nests,  three  feet  in  length,  and  resembling 
large  oval  baskets  open  at  the  bottom  and  looking 
from  a  distance  like  so  many  signal  flags.  The  birds 


102  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

that  build  them  are  nearly  the  size  of  ostriches  and 
thus  correspond  well  with  the  giant  tree  that  affords 
them  shelter.  The  height  of  the  baobab  is,  however, 
not  in  proportion  to  its  circumference,  as  may  be  seen 
by  oui*  illustration. 

It  would  take  fifteen  men  with  their  arms  extend- 
ed to  embrace  the  trunk  of  one  of  these  great  trees, 
which,  in  the  countries  through  which  the  Senegal 
flows,  are  venerated  as  sacred  monuments.  Enor- 
mous branches  are  given  off  from  the  central  stem  a 
few  feet  above  the  ground  and  spread  out  horizon- 
tally, giving  the  tree  a  diameter  of  over  100  feet. 
"  Each  of  these  branches,"  says  M.  Danton,  "  would  be 
a  monstrous  tree  elsewhere  ;  and,  taken  together,  they 
seem  to  make  up  a  forest  rather  than  a  tree." 

It  is  only  at  the  age  of  800  years  that  the  baobabs 
attain  their  full  size  and  then  cease  to  grow. 

The  fruit  of  this  tree  is  oblong ;  the  color  of  the 
shell  passes  in  ripening  from  green  to  yellow  and 
brown.  The  fruit  has  been  named  "monkey  bread." 
It  contains  a  spongy  substance,  paler  than  chocolate 
and  filled  with  abundant  juice. 

The  bark  is  ashy-gray  in  color,  and  almost  an  inch 
in  thickness.  The  negroes  of  the  Senegal  grind  it 
down  to  powder,  and  in  this  state  they  use  it  to  season 
their  food  and  to  maintain  a  moderately  free  perspi- 
ration, which  enables  them  the  more  easily  to  with- 
stand the  excessive  heat.  It  serves  also  as  an  anti- 
dote for  certain  fevers. 

In  Abyssinia  bees  choose  baobab-trees  for  their 
hives,  and  their  honey  derives  from  the  tree  a  perfume 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.          105 

and  a  taste  which  make  it  to  be  much  sought  after 
by  the  natives.  Like  the  bees,  poets  and  musicians 
also  are  entombed  by  many  African  tribes  in  the 
trunks  of  baobabs.  In  the  eyes  of  Africans,  how- 
ever, these  are  not  tombs  of  honor ;  and  the  reason 
why  they  give  their  poets  and  musicians  this  strange 
place  of  sepulchre  is  the  belief  that  their  gifted 
brethren  are  in  communication  with  spirits.  They 
have  a  superstitious  horror  of  their  remains,  and  will 
not  bury  them  in  the  earth  that  brings  forth  their 
food,  nor  in  the  channels  of  rivers.  It  is  difficult  to 
form  an  idea  of  the  space  which  these  trunks  enclose ; 
some  of  them  could  hold  240  men,  Besides  using 
them  as  places  of  sepulchre,  the  natives  employ  them 
for  other  purposes;  they  sometimes  encamp  within 
them,  and  at  other  times  use  them  as  stables. 

Adanson  has  calculated  the  age  of  these  trees  by 
the  depth  of  certain  notches  made  upon  them  by 
sailors  of  the  fifteenth  century,  who  cut  their  names 
in  the  bark  in  letters  of  considerable  size ;  he  exam- 
ined the  new  layers  of  wood  which  had  covered 
these  notches,  and  compared  their  thickness  with  that 
of  trunks  of  the  same  kind,  the  age  of  which  was 
known.  "  He  has  found,"  says  Humboldt,  "  for  a  diam- 
eter of  .about  30  feet,  an  age  of  5,150  years."  He  has, 
however,  had  the  prudence  to  add  these  words: 
"  The  calculation  of  the  age  of  each  layer  cannot  be  re- 
garded as  mathematically  exact."  In  the  village  of 
Grand  Galarques,  situated  also  in  Senegambia,the  ne- 
groes have  ornamented  the  hollow  of  a  baobab  with 
carvings  cut  in  the  wood.  The  interior  space  serves 


106  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

as  an  assembly  hall,  where  the  affairs  of  the  tribe  are 
discussed.  This  hall  recalls  the  "cavern"  (specns) 
formed  in  the  hollows  of  a  palm-tree  in  Lycia,  in  which  a 
consular  personage,  Licinius  Mucianus,  used  to  enter- 
tain nineteen  friends  at  dinner.  Pliny  describes  anoth- 
er cavity  of  the  same  kind  as  being  eighty  Roman  feet 
in  width. 

The  calculations  of  Adanson  and  of  Perrottet, 
from  which  it  would  appear  that  there  are  baobabs  in 
the  world  from  5,000  to  6,000  years  old,  would  make 
these  plants  the  contemporaries  of  the  builders  of  the 
pyramids,  or  even  of  earlier  mythical  personages. 

These  immense  trunks  are  crowned  with  a  vast 
number  of  large,  almost  horizontal  branches,  and  on 
this  account  they  appear,  when  seen  from  a  distance, 
like  gigantic  parasols ;  as  the  lower  branches  nearly 
reach  down  to  the  ground,  they  give  to  the  whole  form 
of  the  tree  the  appearance  of  a  perfect  hemisphere  100 
feet  in  height  and  250  feet  in  circumference. 

The  great  dryness  and  intense  heat  of  the  tropical 
climate  produce  upon  these  trees  the  same  effect 
which  cold  has  upon  northern  plants ;  they  lose  their 
leaves,  and  only  resume  their  foliage  during  the  rainy 
season,  which  lasts  from  December  to  June. 

Besides  the  uses  which  the  negroes  of  Senegambia 
make  of  the  fruit  of  the  baobab,  they  are  also  careful 
to  dry  the  leaves,  which  appear  at  this  season,  and  to 
reduce  them  to  powder,  to  which,  as  has  been  stated, 
they  ascribe  medicinal  properties.  It  cures  dysentery 
2  nd  the  inflammatory  fevers  to  which  Europeans  liv- 
>ng  in  Senegal  are  frequently  exposed. 


THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION.          107 

The  baobab  surpasses  all  known  trees  in  size,  and 
even  forms  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  in  vege- 
tation in  Australia.  It  is  hardly  ever  found  beyond 
a  hundred  miles  from  the  coast,  and  it  occurs  most 
frequently  on  the  river  Glenelg  as  far  as  the  western 
borders  of  Arnheim's  Land.  It  prefers  level  sandy 
tracts ;  in  stony  and  less  fertile  soil  it  rises  to  no 
great  height,  but  still  attains  a  colossal  breadth,  throw- 
ing out  branches  of  extraordinary  thickness.  The 
fruit  of  the  Australian  baobab  is  much  smaller  than 
that  of  the  African  variety,  in  which  an  important 
trade  is  carried  on  in  Senegal.  But  the  fruit  of  the 
former  is  as  highly  prized  by  the  Australians  as  the 
latter  by  the  negroes  of  Senegambia.  The  tart  pulp 
of  this  fruit  is  called  by  the  German  settlers  on  the  Or- 
ange River,  Cream  of  Tartar,  and  by  the  English  col- 
onists Monkey  bread.  The  baobab  of  Australia  is 
not  considered  as  a  curiosity  only,  but  as  a  tree  bear- 
ing a  sort  of  providential  food,  which  is  obtained  at 
once  in  a  solid  and  liquid  form,  and  a  most  abundant 
ministrant  to  human  wants  in  that  arid  and  burning 
climate. 


The  Cedars  on  Atlas  Moimtuiua. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CEDARS    OF   LEBANON    AND   OF   AFEICA. 

traveller  who  ascends  the  ancient  mountains  of 
Lebanon  is  overcome  with  awe  when,  having  ar- 
rived at  the  lofty  plateaux  that  crown  them,  he  sees 
that  the  heavens  are  still  shut  out  from  his  gaze  by 
the  green  veil  stretched  above  his  head  by  the  broad 
branches  of  the  cedars.  Calm  and  silent  witnesses  of 
revolutions  that  have  altered  the  face  of  the  world, 
they  have  beheld  unmoved  the  terrors  of  man  in  the 
fearful  days  when  the  waters  covered  the  earth.  The 
strong  men  of  the  early  ages  of  the  world  reposed  un- 
der their  shade,  tribes  set  up  their  tents  there,  and  patri- 
archal families  rested  there  in  their  wanderings.  As  we 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  109 

approach  them,  we  feel  as  if  we  were  unworthy  to 
touch  them,  so  great  in  comparison  with  our  little 
lives  are  the  associations  that  crowd  around  these  ven- 
erable giants. 

"  These  trees  are  the  most  celebrated  natural  mon- 
uments in  the  world,"  says  Lamartine,  who  visited 
them  in  1833.  "  They  have  been  alike  consecrated  by 
religion,  poetry  and  history.  The  Scriptures  celebrate 
them  in  many  a  passage,  and  they  supplied  the  im- 
ages which  the  poets  delighted  to  use.  Solomon  wished 
to  employ  them  in  the  building  of  the  Temple,  no 
doubt  because  of  the  magnificence  and  the  sacred 
character  of  these  trees  even  at  this  early  epoch."  The 
Arabs  of  all  sects  have  a  traditional  veneration  for 
these  trees.  They  attribute  to  them  not  only  a  vege- 
tative force,  which  enables  them  to  live  forever,  but 
also  a  soul  which  imparts  to  them  the  power  to  man- 
ifest signs  of  consciousness  and  an  understanding  sim- 
ilar to  the  instinct  of  animals  and  the  intelligence  of 
man.  They  have  a  premonition  of  the  seasons  ;  they 
move  their  huge  branches  like  limbs — stretch  them 
out  and  draw  them  in,  raise  them  toward  heaven  or 
bend  them  toward  the  earth.  In  the  Arab  mind  they 
are  divine  beings  in  the  form  of  trees.  They  grow 
nowhere  else  but  on  the  table-lands  of  the  Lebanon, 
taking  root  high  above  the  region  where  all  other 
great  plants  cease  to  thrive. 

The  number  of  these  trees  diminishes  in  each  suc- 
ceeding age.  In  1550,  Bellon  counted  thirty  of  them ; 
in  1600,  there  were  only  twenty-four ;  in  1650,  twen- 
ty-two ;  in  1700,  sixteen  ;  in  1800,  seven.  These  sev- 


HO  THE    WONDERS    OF    V  !•:<!  STATION. 

en  giant  trees  are,  perhaps,  the  only  living  witnesses 
to-day  of  Biblical  times. 

Mount  Lebanon  separates  the  Holy  Land  from 
Syria,  above  whose  loftiest  mountains  it  towers.  The 
range  has  the  form  of  a  horse-shoe,  and  measures  not 
less  than  three  thousand  miles  in  length.  To  the 
south  is  Palestine,  to  the  north  Armenia,  to  the  east 
Arabia,  to  the  west  the  Syrian  Sea.  From  Tripoli  to 
Damascus,  the  slopes  of  the  Lebanon  are  not  far  from 
the  sea ;  at  certain  points  they  even  touch  the  shore. 
The  eastern  part  is  known  among  the  Greeks  as  the 
Anti-Lebanon. 

The  mountains  rise  the  one  above  the  other  and  pre- 
sent four  diiferent  zones.  According  to  travellers,  the 
soil  of  the  first  zone  produces  grain  crops  and  is  rich 
in  fruit-trees.  The  second  zone  is  simply  a  belt  of 
naked  and  sterile  rocks.  The  third,  in  spite  of  its 
elevation,  is  covered  with  evergreens ;  and  the  softness 
of  its  temperature,  its  gardens,  its  orchards,  filled  with 
the  finest  fruit  in  all  Syria,  and  the  brooks  which 
water  it,  make  this  a  kind  of  earthly  paradise.  The 
fourth  zone  is  in  the  clouds ;  and  the  perpetual  snow, 
with  which  it  is  covered,  has  given  the  name  of  Leban 
(white)  to  these  mountains.  It  is  on  one  of  the  sum- 
mits of  this  fourth  zone  that  are  still  to  be  seen  the 
cedars  of  Scripture. 

"  What  prayers  have  ascended  from  beneath  these 
branches !"  exclaims  the  poet ;  "  and  where  is  there  on 
earth  a  more  beautiful  temple  than  this  one,  so  near 
to  heaven  itself?  What  dais  more  majestic  and  more 
beautiful  than  this  last  plateau  of  the  Lebanon ! 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.          HI 

What  more  productive  of  elevated  thoughts  than  the 
cedar,  the  dome  of  which  has  sheltered  and  still  shel- 
ters so  many  human  generations,  each  one  of  which 
calls  upon  the  name  of  God  in  a  different  tongue ;  but 
recognizes  Him  alike  in  all  His  works,  and  worships 
Him  in  the  manifestation  of  his  greatness  in  nature ! " 

The  trees  rise  to  the  height  of  from  sixty  to  one 
hundred  feet.  The  largest  of  those  that  remain  is 
thirteen  feet  in  diameter  and  covers  a  circumference 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet.  The  branches,  of  a 
clear  green  even  during  the  part  of  the  year  when 
they  are  covered  with  snow,  are  flat,  horizontal,  and 
covered  with  a  close  foliage.  For  a  long  time  the  ce- 
dar was  classed  as  belonging  to  the  larch  family,  but 
it  is  now  regarded  as  a  group  of  the  Pinus  family. 

The  fruit,  as  large  as  that  of  the  pine,  is  round- 
er, more  compact  and  smoother. 

In  his  narrative  of  his  journey  to  the  Eastern  Sa- 
hara, Mr.  Martins  speaks  with  the  greatest  admiration 
of  the  superb  cedars  of  that  part  of  the  world.  "  The 
most  beautiful  forests  of  cedars,"  he  says,  "  ornament 
the  crests  and  the  gorges  of  Chellalah,  near  Batna ;  few 
are  seen  in  Djurjura  and  at  Teniet-el-Had,  south 
of  Miliana.  What  a  contrast  between  these  beautiful 
forests  and  the  sterile  tracts  that  lead  to  where  they 
grow !  When  young,  the  cedars  of  the  Atlas  are  pyr- 
amidal in  form ;  but,  when  they  have  grown  taller 
than  their  neighbors  or  the  rock  which  shelters  them, 
a  tempest,  a  thunderbolt,  or  an  insect  that  pierces  the 
terminal  sprouts  deprive  them  of  their  pointed  tops. 
The  branches  spread  sideways,  and  form  a  perfect 


112          THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

wilderness  of  verdure,  concealing  the  sky  from  the 
eyes  of  the  traveller,  who  passes  on  in  darkness  under 
these  vaults  impenetrable  to  the  rays  of  the  sun.  From 
the  height  of  a  lofty  mountain-top  the  sight  is  still 
more  imposing.  The  level  surfaces  of  the  trees  then 
look  like  a  broad  dark  green,  or  almost  blue  meadow, 
sown  with  egg-shaped  purple  cones.  The  eye  is  lost 
in  an  abyss  of  green,  at  the  bottom  of  which  an  invis- 
ible torrent  brawls  along.  Often  an  isolated  group 
attracts  the  attention  ;  as  we  draw  near,  expecting  to 
see  a  number  of  trees,  we  are  astonished  to  iind  that 
we  stand  before  a  single  tree,  cut  down  in  times  of 
yore  by  the  Romans  or  the  first  Arab  conquerors. 
The  tree  has  sent  up  new  shoots,  enormous  branches 
have  grown  from  the  old  stock,  and  each  is  a  tree  of 
full-grown  size,  while  vast  fans  of  verdure  spread  out 
on  all  sides  from  the  mutilated  trunk  and  cast  their 
shadows  far  across  the  earth.  Some  of  these  cedars 
are  still  standing,  though  dead ;  the  bark  has  fallen  off, 
and  they  stretch  their  bleached  bare  arms  in  all  direc- 
tions. The  cedars  of  Africa  still  await  their  painter. 
A  Marilhat  has  worthily  painted  the  cedars  of  Lebanon ; 
but  his  successors  are  content  to  paint  over  and  over 
again  the  portraits  X)f  a  few  oaks  of  home  forests,  which 
the  connoisseurs  recognize  as  old  friends  in  every  ex- 
hibition. Eminent  artists  spend  their  lives  in  repro- 
ducing the  same  forms,  while  the  venerable  cedars 
live  and  die  unknown  in  the  gorges  of  the  Atlas, 
where  their  beauty  is  admired  only  by  the  occasional 
traveller  that  ventures  into  these  mountains." 


The  Cactus— the  Giant  Taper. 


CHAPTEE  YII. 

'THE  SCREW-PINES. 

astonishing  diversity  of  the  productions  of  na- 
ture  in  different  climates  is  so  great,  that  even  ex- 
perienced travellers  cannot  restrain  an  exclamation  of 
wonder,  when  they  pass  from  one  part  of  the  world  to 
another,  and  even  from  one  side  to  the  other  of  the 
same  continent.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  ex- 
plorers of  Senegal,  when  they  have  just  crossed  the 
desolate  wastes  of  the  Sahara.  The  richest  vegetation 
suddenly  succeeds  to  the  most  complete  sterility,  and 
tall,  black  Africans  are  met  with  in  place  of  the 
stunted  Arabs.  The  trees  preserve  a  never  failing 
freshness — growing  young  again  each  season  before 


114  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

they  have  time  to  assume  an  aged  look.  They  are 
seen  inclining  toward  the  waves  of  the  ocean,  as  if 
they  desired  to  drink  the  tepid  and  saline  waters. 

The  strange  plant  which  we  present  in  the  accom- 
panying illustration,  belongs  to  the  family  of  screw- 
pines  (Pandanaceae),  of  which  Senegambia  is  the  fa- 
vorite country,  but  which  is  also  found  in  Polynesia,  in 
New  Zealand,  and  in  Guinea.  M.  de  Folin,  who  has 
drawn  it  from  nature,  gives  the  following  details  re- 
specting it,  as  he  observed  it  in  Prince's  Island,  thirty 
hours'  sail  from  the  Guinea  coast  and  1°  30  ]S".  Lat : 

"  A  stream  that  falls  from  the  steep  cliffs  of  the  isl- 
and, dashing  its  silvery  waves  from  rock  to  rock, 
keeps  up  a  constant  moisture  in  a  narrow  valley, 
where  the  heat  of  the  rays  of  the  sun  that  beat  all  day 
upon  the  cliffs  on  each  side,  is  reflected  and  concen- 
trated. The  warm  moist  atmosphere,  due  to  these 
causes,  maintains  a  most  vigorous  vegetation  at  the 
foot  of  the  valley.  The  screw-pine  grows  at  a  spot 
where  the  gorge  widens,  and  the  torrent,  spreading 
out  into  a  limpid  lake,  pauses  for  a  moment  before 
flowing  forth  to  fall  into  the  sea. 

This  strange  tree,  with  its  slender  supports,  its  bare 
branches,  gracefully  inclining  toward  the  horizon, 
and  spreading  out  its  enormous  fans  and  diadems 
of  beautiful  leaves,  has  the  most  airy  appearance. 

Masses  of  young  shoots  and  of  aquatic  plants  are 
grouped  around  each  trunk  and  reflected  in  the  water 
that  furnishes  the  screw-pine  its  home  and  its  sup- 
port. 

The  weirdness  of  the  strange  scene  is  heightened 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

by  the  solitude  that  reigns  all  around  in  perfect  si- 
lence ;  only  now  and  then  some  aquatic  animal  utters 
a  low  cry  as  it  throws  itself  upon  the  shore,  or  a  lonely 
heron,  perched  upon  a  half-submerged  rock,  exults  as 
he  swoops  down  furiously  upon  his  prey. 

Among  the  screw-pines  we  must  notice  one  spe- 
cies much  prized  by  the  inhabitants  of  Oceanica,  who 
weave  beautiful  mats  with  its  leaves.  It  is  called 
the  sweet-scented  Paiidanus  (P.  odoratissimus),  from 
the  circumstance  that  its  flowers  exhale  an  odor  at 
once  sweet  and  strong,  which  perfumes  the  whole 
neighborhood.  Another  screw-pine,  more  extraor- 
dinary still,  if  we  are  to  believe  De  Candolle,  has  a 
flower  which  in  opening  emits  a  flash  of  light  accom- 
panied by  sound. 

In  Madagascar  is  found  the  Pandanus  muricatus  ; 
but  we  look  in  vain  in  this  island  for  the  beautiful 
trees  which  adorn  the  virgin  forests  of  Sumatra,  of 
Borneo,  or  even  America.  Yet  the  useful  screw- 
pines  overrun  the  low  reaches  of  the  coast.  They 
are  of  a  singular  form,  full  of  grace,  and  yet  mournful. 
The  trunk,  covered  with  a  smooth  bark,  divides  at 
the  height  of  about  six  feet  into  three  branches  of  equal 
size.  Each  branch  divided  again  into  three  others, 
forms  thus  at  the  summit  a  crown  of  the  finest  foliage. 
The  entire  height  never  exceeds  thirty  feet. 

THE    CACTUS. THE    GIANT    CANDLE. 

In  America,  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  shores  of 
the  Pacific,  in  the  state  of  Sonora,  and  in  Southern 
California,  the  traveller  meets  with  the  gigantic  candle- 


118  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

tree  (Cereus  giganteus),  a  plant  which  is  at  once  sim 
pie  and  singular  in  form,  and  is  called  "  the  giant  can 
die,"  because  of  its  form  and  height.  It  is  the  queen  of 
the  cactus  tribe,  and  towers  with  its  straight  stem  above 
the  short  and  twisted  varieties  that  belong  to  the  same 

CD 

family. 

"  In  this  country,"  says  the  traveller  Mollhausen, 
"  animals  and  plants  show  to  advantage,  though  the 
same  thing  cannot  be  said  o'f  the  human  inhabitants. 
The  hideous  Indians  whom  we  met,  dwelt  near  a  de- 
file called  the  Cactus  Pass,  because  of  the  plants  of 
that  name,  that  are  found  there  in  great  numbers." 
Among  these  the  most  remarkable  is  the  Cereus  gi- 
ganteus.  This  king  of  the  cacti  is  known  in  Cali- 
fornia and  in  New  Mexico  as  the  Petahoya.  The 
missionaries  who,  more  than  a  century  ago  reached  the 
Colorado  and  the  Gila,  speak  of  the  fruit  of  the  Peta- 
hoya upon  which  the  natives  subsisted  and  with 
which  they  were  as  much  delighted  as  in  later  days 
the  trappers.  This  strange  plant  consists  of  nothing 
but  a  few  branches  and  still  fewer  leaves.  Its  north- 
ern limit  reaches  to  the  banks  of  the  Gila.  Savage 
deserts  and  the  most  sterile  tracts  seem  to  be  the 
localities  most  favored  by  this  plant,  which  finds 
means  of  pushing  its  roots  between  stones  and  rocks, 
where  not  an  atom  of  soil  is  to  be  seen  and  where  it 
grows,  nevertheless,  to  a  surprising  height.  The  form 
of  these  cacti  varies  with  age.  At  first  twice  as  large 
at  the  top  as  at  the  root,  the  plant,  in  proportion  as  it  ar- 
rives at  maturity,  enlarges  it  diameter  till  it  becomes 
symmetrical  and  assumes  the  appearance  of  a  straight 


THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          121 

column  for  about  twenty  feet,  to  the  place  where  the 
branches  are  produced.  Here  round  branches  go 
straight  out  from  the  trunk,  but  they  gradually  curve 
upwards,  parallel  to  the  trunk,  and  rise  to  the  same 
height.  It  is  at  this  stage  that  the  curious  plant,  with 
its  many  upright  branches,  looks  like  a  gigantic,  can- 
delabrum, and  deserves  its  name  of  giant  candle. 

At  first  sight  one  cannot  conceive  how  these  lofty 
stems,  isolated,  and  clinging  only  to  a  point  of  rock, 
can  withstand  the  tempest ;  but  they  owe  their  se- 
curity to  a  series  of  ribs  placed  in  the  interior  of  the 
fleshy  stem,  from  the  top  to  the  bottom,  and  which 
are  as  hard  as  the  wood  of  the  cactus.  Both  trunk 
and  branches  are  regularly  fluted  throughout  their 
entire  length,  and  from  this  circumstance  they  bear  a 
striking  likeness  to  Corinthian  columns.  In  May  and 
June,  the  time  of  bloom,  the  upper  end  of  the 
branches,  and  of  the  main  stem,  are  covered  with 
large  white  flowers,  which  are  replaced  in  the  two  fol- 
lowing months  by  savory  fruits.  This  plant  is  one 
of  the  favorite  articles  of  food  used  by  the  Indians, 
who  also  convert  it  into  a  sort  of  syrup.  Upon  the 
tree  these  oval  and  pear-shaped  fruits  grow  close  to- 
gether; they  are  green,  but  at  the  top  turn  reddish. 
The  pulp  is  crimson,  and  tastes  like  that  of  the  fresh 
fig,  but  much  drier.  These  cacti  reach  the  height  of 
60  feet;  when  the  plant  dies,  the  flesh  falls  away, 
piece  by  piece,  from  the  fibres  of  the  stem,  and  for 
years  afterwards  holding  on  by  the  roots,  these  gigan- 
tic and  bare  skeletons  are  seen  still  clinging  to  the 
rock. 


122         THE   WONDERS   OF    VE&ETATION. 

"  It  is  to  the  New  World,"  says  Humboldt,  "  that 
the  cactus-form  exclusively  belongs;  they  appear 
sometimes  jointed,  sometimes  spherical,  and  some- 
times like  fluted  columns,  or  organ  tubes."  This  group 
forms  the  most  striking  contrast  with  the  lily-tribe 
and  the  bananas.  It  belongs  to  that  class  of  plants 
which  Saint  Pierre  named  the  "vegetable  springs  of 
the  desert."  In  the  arid  plains  of  South  America, 
the  animals,  tormented  with  thirst,  dig  under  the  sand 
for  the  melo-cactus,  the  watery  pith  of  which  is  pro- 
tected by  formidable  thorns.  The  cacti,  which  take 
the  form  of  pillars,  reach  a  height  of  27  or  30  feet. 
Divided  into  branches  like  candelabra,  and  often  cov- 
ered with  lichens,  they  present  an  appearance  like 
that  of  some  of  the  euphorbias  of  Africa.  These 
plants  form  vast  oases  in  the  midst  of  deserts  bare  of 
all  vegetation. 

The  flowers  of  the  night-blooming  cacti  have  ev- 
erywhere been  regarded  as  symbolical.  The  cereus 
obtained  its  name  from  the  torches  with  which  Ceres 
is  said  to  have  searched  for  Proserpine.  The  superb 
cactus,  which  is  called  the  torch-thistle  in  Mexico,  is 
called  the  steppe-light  in  Russia.  Our  own  Indians, 
and  those  of  South  America,  seem  to  have  observed  the 
phenomena  of  sleeping  and  night-blooming  plants, 
and  it  has  been  thought  that  they  had  to  some  extent 
anticipated  the  famous  floral  clock  of  Linnaeus. 

ASCLEPJAS    GIG  ANTE  A. 

In  the  aspect  of  its  trees,  Eastern  Africa  presents 
to  us  forms  not  less  strange  than  the  names  which 


THE  WONDERS    OF  VEGETATION.          123 

they  bear.  South  of  the  Strait  of  Bab-el-Mandeb 
(Strait  of  Tears),  near  the  Gubet-el-Kherab  (Basin  of 
Untruth),  which  is  a  small  bay  of  that  part  of  the 
Arabian  Gulf  called  Bahr-el-Bonatien  (Sea  of  the  Two 
Sisters),  there  stands  the  little  town  of  Tanjourra. 
It  is  here,  especially,  that  the  Asdepias  gigantea  is 
found  growing ;  a  prickly  acacia  covered  with  a  num- 
ber of  exuberant  lianes.  The  small  antelope,  as  well 
as  aquatic  fowls  and  the  water-hen,  haunt  the  shady 
woods  formed  by  these  beautiful  trees ;  and  this  calm 
and  enchanting  scene  would  leave  no  unpleasant  im- 
pression on  your  mind,  if  Tanjourra  were  not  the 
centre  of  an  abominable  slave-trade. 

THE    CORK    OAK. 

"We  will  conclude  this  chapter  with  a  useful  plant 
better  known  by  its  peculiar  product  than  in  itself. 
The  description  of  its  bark  will  lead  us  to  consider 
the  general  structure  of  all  trees. 

A  section  of  a  full- grown  tree  presents  three  fun- 
damental concentric  subdivisions.  First,  the  medul- 
lary canal,  containing  the  pith  or  medulla.  Second, 
the  woody  substance  surrounding  the  pith.  Third, 
an  outer  envelope — the  bark.  In  the  bark  itself  there 
are  again  three  different  substances  placed  in  juxta- 
position ;  the  liber,  consisting  of  thin  leaflets,  the 
parenchyme  or  cellular  system,  through  which  the  sap 
circulates,  and  the  epidermis  or  outer  skin.  This  is 
the  general  structure  of  all  trees.  In  the  tree  which 
produces  cork,  the  parenchyme  or  middle  division  of 
the  bark  is  the  portion  which  furnishes  that  substance. 


124:          THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

It  is  only  after  the  cork  tree  is  fifteen  years  of  age 
that  it  has  a  parenchyma  sufficiently  developed  to 
serve  for  this  purpose.  From  this  time  onward  to 
its  last  years  we  can  strip  the  tree  of  its  bark  every 
eight  or  ten  years,  and  each  barking  will  produce 
90  or  110  pounds  of  cork.  In  Catalonia,  the  true 
home  of  the  cork-tree,  or  the  cork  oak  as  it  is  also 
called,  a  sufficient  quantity  of  cork  is  reaped  every 
year  for  the  manufacture  of  500,000,000  of  corks, 
which  are  put  up  in  bales  of  30,000  each. 

The  manner  in  which  the  cork  is  gathered  is  thus : 
two  incisions  are  made  in  the  bark  round  the  tree, 
and  then  two  perpendicular  incisions,  taking  care  not 
to  reach  the  liber — the  innermost  layer  of  the  bark. 
Through  one  of  the  horizontal  cuts  a  thin  sharp  blade 
is  introduced  and  a  square  piece  of  the  bark  carefully 
removed.  Other  incisions  are  made  and  other  squares 
of  cork  removed  from  the  tree  until  it  has  been  com- 
pletely stripped.  A  liquid  resembling  melted  wax 
flows  in  between  the  liber  and  the  parenchyma  and 
facilitates  the  operation.  After  being  stripped,  the 
cork  oak  is  soon  covered  again  with  a  viscous  matter 
which  escapes  from  tiny  openings  in  the  liber,  and 
which  spreads  over  the  surface,  hardens,  and  forms 
the  basis  of  a  new  bark.  But  there  must  be  an  inter- 
val of  about  ten  years  before  the  tree  can  be  stripped 
again. 

This  tree  belongs  specially  to  warm  climates,  and 
Algeria  possesses  whole  forests  which  are  now  being 
worked  by  French  colonists. 


A  savage  shooting  poisoned  Arrows  (p.  139). 


OHAPTEE  VIII. 

MILKY    SECRETIONS. 

milk-trees  which  we  have  described  in  the 
•*-  first  pages  of  this  book,  are  not  the  only  ones 
which  are  remarkable  for  an  abundance  of  milky  sap. 
Others  also,  serving  purposes  of  another  nature  or 
even  of  pernicious  and  fatal  character,  deserve  to  be 
classed  among  the  vegetables  worthy  of  our  attention. 
The  families  of  plants  which  are  most  remarkable  for 
their  abundant  sap  are  the  Euphorbiacece,  the  Apo- 
cynece  and  the  Urticece — differing  from  each  other 
in  their  anatomical  structure.  They  have  in  their 
bark  and  sometimes  in  the  pith  of  their  sterns,  a 
number  of  long  tubes,  more  or  less  inosculated  and 
flexible,  which  are  so  much  like  the  veins  of  animals 


126  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

that  they  ha-ve  misled  many  a  naturalist  and  justified 
the  comparison  of  vegetable  sap  with  animal  blood. 
Yet  it  seems  that  the  term  of  "  vital  fluid,"  as  applied 
to  the  latter,  is  inappropriate,  and  that  of  milky  sap 
is  more  justifiable. 

Certain  trees  which  contain  milky  sap  in  great 
quantity  have  been  called  the  serpents  of  the  vegeta- 
ble kingdom ;  and  the  most  striking  feature  of  the  re- 
semblance is  in  the  organ,  by  the  help  of  which  both 
the  plant  and  the  animal  emit  poison.  It  is  well  known 
that  with  many  serpents  the  poison  is  held  in  two 
long  teeth  of  the  upper  jaw,  which  are  traversed 
throughout  their  whole  length  by  a  narrow  canal. 
At  the  root  of  these  teeth  is  a  gland  that  secretes  the 
poison,  and  can  be  compressed  by  the  pressure  of  the 
teeth  like  a  sponge.  At  the  moment  when  the  ani- 
mal bites,  the  poison  is  thrown  into  the  medullary 
canal  of  the  tooth  and  through  a  small  opening  into 
the  wound.  In  poisonous  plants  we  observe  a  simi- 
lar arrangement  in  the  bristles  of  the  leaves — we  can 
easily  see  this  by  examining  the  leaves  of  a  nettle. 
The  poison  of  the  common  nettle  is  as  little  danger- 
ous as  that  of  many  snakes,  but  it  becomes  deadly  as 
we  approach  the  equator,  the  heat  of  the  tropical  sun 
seeming  to  intensify  the  venom  both  of  the  plant  and 
the  snake. 

The  three  great  families  which  are  distinguished 
for  the  abundance  and  the  value  of  their  milky  juices 
resemble  each  other  in  the  nature  of  that  liquid ;  and 
hence  we  shall  here  mention  only  the  most  remarka- 
ble species.  Foremost  among  these  stands  a  vegeta- 


GUTTA-PERCHA   TREE 


TEE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          129 

ble  product  the  employment  of  which  for  various  uses 
has  been  wonderfully  extended  in  our  days — the  In- 
dia-rubber or  caoutchouc. 

This  gum  can  be  obtained  from  a  great  number 
of  trees ;  those  which  produce  it  in  greatest  abundance 
being  Hevea-guy 'anensis,  the  SipJionia  cahuchu  and 
the  Jatropha  elastica.  In  the  Antilles  it  is  extract- 
ed from  the  purple  Euphorbia  and  the  elastic  Urceale, 
the  product  of  which  is  esteemed  by  some  superior  to 
that  of  the  Hevea.  In  spite  of  this  great  number  of 
caoutchouc-plants  one  would  almost  fear  that  the  im- 
mense quantities  of  caoutchouc  brought  into  all  the 
markets  of  the  world,  would  soon  transform  the  for- 
ests in  which  they  grow  into  wastes  of  dead  trees,  as 
has  happened  in  North  Carolina,  where  the  larches 
and  pines,  which  have  been  tapped  for  their  turpen- 
tine, covers  vast  territories  with  dead  wood,  looking 
like  forests  of  bare  masts. 

The  infinitely  multiplied  uses  to  which  caoutchouc 
is  applied  in  these  days  are  truly  remarkable.  In 
England  and  America  it  is  used  to  an  enormous  ex- 
tent. In  1820,  52,000  pounds  were  imported  into 
Great  Britain;  in  1833,  1T8,676  pounds;  and  at  the 
present  day  a  much  larger  quantity  is  imported.  The 
United  States  consumes  more  than  twice  this  quantity. 

This  increase  is  of  course  much  more  noticeable 
since  the  invention  of  vulcanite  or  vulcanized  caout- 
chouc. The  vulcanization  is  a  chemical  process,  the 
effect  of  which  is  to  remove  entirely  the  elasticity  of 
the  material  and  to  give  it  the  various  qualities  pos- 
sessed by  wood,  tortoise-shell,  ivory  or  whalebone,  and 
9 


130          THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

to  render  it  capable  of  enduring  unharmed  a  high  de- 
gree of  heat  as  well  as  of  cold,  and  of  resisting  moist- 
ure as  well  as  the  contact  with  acids.  This  effect  is 
obtained  by  combining  it  with  sulphur  either  directly 
or  by  means  of  bisulphide  of  carbon.  Every  one 
knows  the  quantity  and  the  diversity  of  objects  that 
are  made  from  this  light  and  yet  hard  vulcanite,  from  ar- 
ticles of  jewelry  and  ornament  to  scientific  instruments 
and  the  tools  used  in  general  industry.  In  fact  In- 
dia-rubber and  its  more  recent  brother  gutta-percha, 
assumes  a  greater  number  of  transformations  than  the 
magic  wrand  of  the  most  potent  fairy  ever  brought 
about  in  Arabian  tales.  They  run  through  the  entire 
list  of  useful  and  ornamental  articles,  from  the  breastpin 
tipped  with  gold  to  the  life-boat  in  the  surges  of  the 
ocean. 

It  was  in  1736  that  Condamine  sent  the  first  relia- 
ble account  of  the  new  substance  to  the  French  Acad- 
emy, describing  it  as  the  inspissated  juice  of  a  tree 
called  by  the  natives  Hevee.  In  1757  Fremeau  found 
the  same  tree  in  Cayenne,  and  it  is  now  known  to  be 
the  produce  of  many  trees  growing  in  South  America 
and  the  East  Indies.  The  most  important  of  these  is 
one  of  the  spurge  tribe,  the  Siphonia  elastica,  found 
in  the  dense  forests  on  the  banks  of  the  Amazon,  and 
yielding  the  caoutchouc  of  Para;  the  Pemambuco 
caoutchouc  is  furnished  by  the  Hancomia  speciosa, 
found  about  Pernambuco  and  Bahia ;  the  Ticus  elasti- 
ca,  or  snake-tree,  with  a  wood  so  light  and  porous  as  to 
be  fit  only  for  fuel  or  charcoal,  produces  an  abundant 
supply  of  milk,  which  the  natives  use  for  lining  the 


THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          133 

inside  of  their  water-pots,  and  making  the  caoutchouc 
itself  into  candles.  A  kind  of  junglevine  (urceola  elas- 
tica),  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  is  the  main  repre- 
sentative of  this  class  in  that  remote  portion  of  our 
globe.  Caoutchouc  is  obtained  in  the  following  man- 
ner :  with  a  sharp  instrument  straight  and  sloping  inci- 
sions are  made  one  above  the  other,  the  first  about  a 
man's  height  from  the  ground,  which  penetrate  beneath 
the  bark.  At  the  foot  of  the  incision  a  vessel  made  of 
clay,  and  holding  about  a  tumblerful,  is  placed  to  re- 
ceive all  the  sap  ;  these  bowls  are  filled  in  about  three 
hours,  if  the  tree  is  good,  and  from  this  the  milk  is 
poured  into  a  calabash  at  the  foot  of  the  tree.  The  sap 
is  liquid,  and  generally  white  at  the  time  of  extraction ; 
the  brown  color  with  which  we  are  familiar  is  imparted 
to  it  by  foreign  matter,  which  is  mixed  up  with  it,  and 
it  is  still  further  darkened  by  the  fires  of  Urucari  nuts, 
which  yield  a  thick  oily  smoke  and  are  said  to  be  of  great 
value  in  the  process.  The  Indians  have  clay  moulds 
of  bottles,  animals,  etc.,  which  they  dip  into  the  milk 
and  hold  over  the  smoke  till  dry,  repeating  this  until 
the  rubber  is  of  sufficient  thickness,  when  they  take 
it  off  the  mould  and  the  native  manufacture  is  at  an 
end.  The  caoutchouc  is  suspended  in  the  albumen 
of  the  sap,  like  cream  in  milk.  In  order  to  separate 
the  caoutchouc  from  the  other  matter,  the  whole  is 
put  in  three  or  four  times  its  bulk  of  water,  and  the 
valuable  material  rising  to  the  surface  is  removed  on 
the  following  day. 

All  the  countries  that   produce   caoutchouc  are 
within   the  Torrid  Zone;   these   are   chiefly   South 


y 


parts  of 


On  this  subjm,  Hwnboldt  states  that  the  number  of 

y  -..:.:?    ::..-;-     :?       .    v.-;;.r    ::•.-:    e.-:.i-,T. 
:_>:  ::  ii.-<  >,--::v.^  :.    -\,r-:-^-:  ;,   _rr-^.:   ::> 
on  Ae  prodoctioo  of  «o«tchooc;  for  it  has 
dial  the  plants  wfakh  produce  it  under 


tke  tropies,  wtea  euhrrated  in  northern 

-  jv/.^:.i:;-    v/:/..;-.  >.^;v.-.".:,s   :L-:    .T'.UC    ;: 


of  that  same  fianihr  of  which  we  are 
about  to  speak,  give  different  products.  The  juice 
of 


firedk  milk;  and  Leopold  YOU  Bach 

:L:  :.  .':  --  :_A>f  -  >-;     ':  •-.     ;.;.;.  :LV-, 
Tarrh%hlT.  Bat  all  the  euphorbureft  are  not  eqnafly 

li-ir^-l-.-??  :   r   :...:    .•::.:.-.:;•  :.    --.:  v.".---.:   i-  :-.:..   .:.  .: 

a  deadbr  paeon,  and  m  thocoughlv 


,7-:^   ;::.,,•. 

~~~.    .v-lfirf    .:    t..-;  :.•.-.,    :r    ::-.~.;.~:.   :~   ;:.   '."-rtit7-.il 


iti  :Lv  T.:r.,-ttr-j 


The  sweet  easa**  is  eaten  as  wnofe- 

I-.--     -  I'..!.-  tLr  :.it-.-.-s  ::.t:  t"_--ir    -^-'.  :.r 
fittie.  with  gVMffM*^^  the  frtfvnr  of  ttTbe  Plant 

::  I-l::/     -.:   ^r-r   ~L,:   -.-.^   tlr "  -_^kr     I  tLii 


THE    V.'  OF   VEGETATION.          135 

In  the  midst  of  a  dense  forest  in  Guiana,  the  chief 
of  the  tribe,  after  having  stretched  his  hammock  be- 
tween two  great  magnolias,  rests  under  the  shade  of 
the  large  leaves  of  a  banana-tree.  He  smokes  indo- 
lently, and  watches  the  movements  going  on  around 
him.  Meanwhile  his  wife  crushes  the  manioc  roots 
she  has  painfully  gathered,  in  the  hollow  of  a  tree,  by 
means  of  a  wooden  pestle ;  wraps  the  pulp  in  a  net 
made  of  the  leaves  of  a  large  lily,  and  suspends  it 
upon  a  fork,  tying  a  heavy  stone  to  the  lower  part,  so 
as  to  compress  the  contents  and  to  squeeze  out  all  the 
juice  of  the  manioc.  This  juice,  as  it  drops,  is  re- 
ceived in  a  calabash;  and  a  little  boy  squatting  by 
its  side,  steeps  his  father's  arrows  in  the  deadly 
liquid  as  it  drops  down;  while  the  mother  makes 
a  fire  to  roast  the  strained  porridge,  and  thus  to  rid 
it  entirely  of  its  volatile  poison.  After  this,  being 
ground  to  powder  between  two  stones,  the  i  ••!••• 
flour  is  ready  for  domestic  use- 
Meanwhile  the  bov  also  has  finished  his  dangerous 
«  c1 

task.  The  juice  has  deposited  a  delicate  white  starch, 
which  he  separates  from  the  liquid,  and  which,  after 
having  been  washed  once  more  in  fresh  water  turns 

OUt  to  be  tapioca  !      In  this  Or  a  similar  manner  the 

manioca  and  tapioca  of  the  tropics  are  prepared  ev- 
erywhere. 

The  savage,  having  satisfied  his  hunt^er,  flinnipfB 
about  in  search  of  a  new  resting-pJaee;  but  woe  to 
him  !  he  has  chanced  to  encamp  under  a  redoubtable 
manehineel  tree ;  rain  suddenly  falls,  dropping  from  its 
leaves  upon  him.  and  the  unfortunate  man  awakens 


136          THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

suddenly,  with  pain  racking  his  limbs,  and  blisters 
and  ulcers  covering  his  whole  body.  If  he  escapes 
with  his  life,  it  will  be  to  cherish  during  the  remain- 
der of  his  days  a  wholesome  fear  of  the  danger  of  the 
poisonous  properties  of  the  euphorbiacese. 

Everywhere  the  manchineel  enjoys  the  unenvia- 
ble reputation  of  being  a  most  dangerous  tree,  in  the 
shade  of  which  it  is  imprudent  to  repose,  since,  as  the 
poet  says,  "pleasure  dwells  there  by  the  side  of 
death."  This  evil  reputation  has  its  origin  in  the 
poisonous  qualities  of  the  sap  and  the  fruit  of  a  tree 
of  the  same  kind,  found  in  Africa — the  arborescent 
euphorbia.  Like  the  former,  this  tree  has  a  magnifi- 
cent though  even  more  peculiar  appearance.  The 
thickness  of  its  branches  and  foliage,  which  wholly  ex- 
clude the  sun,  seem  to  invite  the  weary  traveller  to 
repose.  The  negroes  have  a  way  of  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  delightfully  cool  shade  and  at  the  same 
time  avoiding  the  danger  from  the  poisonous  drop- 
pings of  the  tree.  They  erect  a  thatched  roof  below 
the  lowest  branches  and  repose  in  peace. 

M.  Tremaux,  in  a  narrative  of  his  excursion  to  the 
Soudan,  has  an  interesting  passage  respecting  these 
arborescent  euphorbia. 

"  While  taking  a  view  of  Cacane,"  he  says,  "  I 
asked  one  of  the  negroes  who  stood  near  me,  to  go 
and  seat  himself  under  a  great  euphorbia  which 
stood  in  the  foreground.  At  first  he  hesitated ;  then 
after  a  little  he  decided  to  yield ;  but  not  without 
raising  his  eyes  many  times  in  apprehension  towards 
the  branches  of  the  tree.  I  was  about  to  climb  upon 


THE   WONDER 8   OF   VEGETATION.          137 

a  rock  in  order  to  break  off  a  branch  which  I  brought 
home  with  me  to  France,  but  the  negro  seeing  me  ap- 
proach, fled  in  terror  from  the  shade  of  the  deadly 
tree,  gesticulating  wildly  and  shouting  words  in  a  lan- 
guage I  could  not  comprehend.  His  signs,  however, 
and  a  few  Arab  words  uttered  by  one  of  the  bystand- 
ers :  (  Do  you  mean  to  die  ?'  made  me  understand 
that  in  touching  the  tree  I  was  running  a  serious  dan- 
ger. But  the  thing  was  done  and  the  broken  branch 
in  my  hand ;  immediately  a  milky  liquid  flowed  forth 
—in  much  greater  quantity  than  I  could  have  imag- 
ined from  what  I  knew  of  these  plants  in  other  coun- 
tries— covering  my  clothes  and  penetrating  even  to 
my  skin.  The  features  and  gestures  of  the  negroes 
expressed  their  pity  and  their  fear.  They  made  me 
understand,  that  if  the  white  juice  touched  one  of  the 
numerous  wounds  which  I  at  that  time  had  on  my 
body,  I  should  die ;  and  that  it  was  dangerous  even 
to  let  it  touch  the  skin. 

"It  is  with  this  juice  that  they  poison  their  weap- 
ons in  order  to  make  their  wounds  mortal ;  but  they 
first  thicken  it,  till  it  acquires  the  consistency  of 
paste  ;  then  they  dip  in  it  the  points  or  blades  of  the 
weapons  they  wish  to  poison." 

Trees  of  this  kind  often  reach  twenty-four  feet  in 
diameter,  and  seventy  feet  in  circumference.  The 
greatest  height  of  trees  of  this  size  is  twenty-four  feet. 
The  trunk  and  the  large  branches  are  of  hard  wood  ; 
the  smaller  branches  consist  mostly  of  pith  and  pa- 
renchyme,  sustained  by  a  slender  woody  fibre. 


138  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 


TREACHEROUS    PLANTS. 

The  remarkable  quality  which  we  have  mentioned 
in  speaking  of  the  "  Treacherous  Plants,"  producing 
at  one  and  the  same  time  wholesome  food  and  a  ter- 
rible poison,  is  even  more  characteristic  in  a  more 
striking  degree  of  another  class  of  plants.  The 
milky  juice  of  some  of  these  is  rich  in  caoutchouc ;  in 
others  it  appears  in  the  form  of  sweet  milk,  whole- 
some and  palatable,  and  in  a  third  variety  it  assumes 
the  form  of  a  deadly  poison.  We  have  spoken  al- 
ready of  milk-trees  proper,  of  trees  producing  caout- 
chouc, and  of  arborescent  euphorbias,  but  many  of 
these  plants  are  more  deadly  than  any  we  have  yet  men- 
tioned. The  savages  of  South  America  poison  their 
arrows  with  euphorbia-milk,  and  the  natives  of  Ethi- 
opia do  the  same  at  the  Cape ;  they  employ  pieces 
of  meat  powdered  with  the  pollen  of  Hyananche 
globosa,  as  an  infallible  means  of  killing  hyenas. 

One  species  of  euphorbia  described  by  Martins 
presents  this  remarkable  peculiarity,  that  its  milk, 
when  it  is  drawn  from  the  tree  in  dark  warm  summer 
nights,  gives  out  a  phosphorescent  light. 

The  woorare,  ourari,  urali,  etc.,  are  nothing  else 
than  the  car  are.  In  past  times  this  substance 
was  believed  to  consist  of  a  vegetable  juice  mixed 
with  the  blood  of  the  viper,  the  poison  of  the  rattle- 
snake, the  saliva  of  serpents  and  other  poisonous 
substances.  These  statements  were  shown  to  be 
false  by  Humboldt,  Boussingault  and  other  travel- 
lers, who  have  had  an  opportunity  of  studying  the 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          139 

plants  which  produce  it,  the  mode  of  extraction 
which  the  Indians  fallow,  and  their  employment  in 
the  hands  of  those  who  make  cruel  use  of  it.  It  is 
a  purely  vegetable  -substance,  produced  by  a  liane  be- 
longing to  the  genus  Strychnos,  and  abounding  east 
of  the  mission  of  Esmaralda,  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Orinoco,  but  growing  also  on  the  eastern  slopes  of  the 
Cordilleras  and  in  the  forests  upon  the  barlks  of  the 
great  equatorial  rivers  of  South  America.  It  is  called 
the  mavacure  liana  (Strychnos  toxiferab) 

"  When  the  bark  of  the  mavacure  is  opened  a 
yellowish  liquid,"  says  Humboldt,  "  continues  to  ooze 
out  for  several  hours  drop  by  drop.  This  filtered 
juice  is  the  poisonous  liquid  ;  but  it  has  not  acquired 
all  its  strength  until  it  is  concentrated  by  evaporation 
in  a  large  clay  pot  placed  over  a  fire.  The  Indian 
who  filled  the  office  of  Poison  Master,  asked  me  from 
time  to  time  to  taste  this  poison  liquid.  It  is  by  the 
bitterness  of  the  taste  that  one  judges  whether  the 
poison  has  been  sufficiently  concentrated.  There  is 
no  danger  in  tasting  curare,  as  it  becomes  fatal  only 
by  coming  in  direct  contact  with  the  blood." 

Other  travellers,  like  Scomburgk  and  Poeppig, 
have  given  us  interesting  descriptions  of  this  prepara- 
tion and  of  the  deadly  properties  of  the  poison,  which 
are  so  overwhelming  that  the  Indians  still  use  it  in 
preference  to  the  fire-arms  of  Europeans,  the  savage 
arms  himself  with  a  long  and  straight  tube ;  the  points 
of  his  arrows,  made  of  hard  wood  and  a  foot  long,  are 
dipped  in  the  curare,  while  the  other  end  is  wrapped 
in  a  quantity  of  cotton,  which  makes  it  exactly  fit  the 


14:0  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

tube.  With  this  terrible  weapon  he  endeavors  to 
surprise  his  enemy— perhaps  some  monster  of  the 
wood,  who,  having  captured  a  deer,  is  tranquilly  re- 
galing himself  upon  the  body.  Not  the  slightest 
noise  betrays  the  approach  of  the  practised,  cautious 
footstep ;  no  eye  beholds  the  long  slender  tube ;  and  the 
winged  messenger  of  death,  propelled  by  the  silent 
breath  <&  the  Indian,  reaches  sometimes  after  a  flight 
of  thirty  paces,  its  unsuspecting  victim  with  unerring 
certainty.  However  small  the  wound  may  be,  the 
animal  falls  to  the  ground  in  awful  convulsions  and 
dies  in  a  few  minutes. 

Schleiden  states  that  a  multitude  of  plants  of  the 
same  family  contain  similar  poisons.  Here,  however, 
the  poisonous  quality  rests  in  their  seeds,  and  this  cir- 
cumstance distinguishes  them  from  those  we  have 
mentioned.  In  the  form  of  strychnine  and  buncine, 
they_present  to  us  the  two  most  violent  of  all  vege- 
table poisons.  The  bean  of  S.  Ignatius  (Ignatius 
amara)  growing  in  Manilla,  and  the  nux  vomica 
(Strychnos  nux  vomica)  are  found  everywhere  in  the 
tropics.  The  natives  of  Madagascar  have  a  custom 
recalling  the  ordeals  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages, 
by  which  they  make  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  a  per- 
son depend  upon  the  strength  of  his  stomach.  The 
man  accused  of  a  crime,  is  obliged,  in  the  presence  of 
the  people  and  the  priests,  to  swallow  a  Thangiu 
nut ;  if  his  stomach  is  strong  enough  to  vomit  up  the 
terrible  poison,  he  is  acquitted ;  but  if  not,  he  is  held 
guilty,  and  immediately  made  to  undergo  his  punish- 
ment, for  he  dies  on  the  instant. 


THE  WONDERS  OF  VEGETATION.       i±\ 

POISON-TREES  OF  JAVA. — The  Upas-Tree. 
Many  trees  produce  poison  like  the  curare  that 
grows  on  the  Orinoco,  and  the  woorare,  which  is 
found  on  the  banks  of  the  Amazon ;  but  the  most  ter- 
rible of  all  is  the  upas,  which  grows  in  several  parts 
of  East  India,  in  Java,  Borneo,  Sumatra  and  the  Cel- 
ebes. 


The  Deadly  lTpas. 

Rumph,  who  has  given  us  a  description  of  it, 
calls  it  the  arbor  toxieari.  This  tree  has  a  thick 
stem  and  extended  branches.  Its  bark  is  brown  and 
knotty ;  its  wood  is  hard,  of  a  pale  yellow  color,  and 
marked  with  black  spots.  Of  all  the  different  spe- 
cies of  strychnos  (from  which  we  obtain  strychnine), 
the  upas  and  the  mix  vomica  furnish  the  most  vio- 
lent poison.  Astonishing  facts,  and  still  more  aston- 
ishing fictions  are  told  of  this  wonderful  plant ;  we 
will  throw  aside  the  fictions,  and  endeavor  to  find  in 


142  THE    WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

the  facts  enough  to  interest  us.  For  recent  travellers 
have  torn  the  veil  of  fables  which  has  long  surround- 
ed and  concealed  the  true  nature  of  this  remark- 
able tree,  but  enough  is  left  to  engage  our  attention. 
We  give  first,  under  reserve,  what  is  said  of  it  by 
Thunberg,  a  famous  botanist  of  Upsaloa,  Sweden. 

"  The  upas-tree,  an  evergreen,"  he  says,  "  is  easi- 
ly recognized  at  a  great  distance.  The  ground 
around  it  is  sterile,  and  looks  as  if  it  had  been 
burned.  The  sap  is  of  a  dark-brown  color,  and  be- 
comes liquid  by  heat,  like  other  resins.  Those 
who  gather  it  have  to  employ  the  greatest  care ; 
covering  the  head,  the  hands,  and  the  whole  body, 
to  protect  themselves  from  the  poisonous  emana- 
tions of  the  tree,  and  especially  from  the  drops 
which  fall  from  it.  They  avoid  even  approaching 
too  near,  and  they  provide  themselves  with  bam- 
boos tipped  with  steel  heads,  having  a  groove  in 
the  middle.  A  score  of  these  long  spears  are  struck 
into  the  tree,  and  the  sap  runs  down  the  groove  in- 
to the  hollow  bamboo,  until  it  is  stopped  by  the 
first  joint  of  the  wood.  The  spears  are  left  sticking 
in  the  trunk  for  three  or  four  hours,  so  that  the  sap 
may  fill  up  the  space  prepared  for  it,  and  have  time 
to  harden,  after  which  they  are  drawn  out.  The 
part  of  the  bamboo  which  contains  the  poison  is 
then  broken  off,  and  covered  up  with  great  care. 
If  kept  for  a  year  or  two,  the  poison  loses  its  vir- 
ulence. 

"  The  sap  of  the  upas-tree  produces  spasms  and 
prostration.  Persons  passing  beneath  its  branches, 


UPAS   TREE 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          14-5 

bare-headed,  lose  their  hair.  A  single  drop  falling 
upon  the  skin  produces  inflammation.  Birds  can  with 
difficulty  fly  over  the  tree,  and  if  they  by  any  chance 
alight  on  its  branches,  they  fall  dead.  The  soil 
around  is  perfectly  sterile  to  the  distance  of  a  stone's 
throw.  Any  one  wounded  with  a  dart  poisoned  with 
this  resin  is  attacked  by  violent  inflammation,  followed 
by  convulsions,  and  dies  in  less  than  15  minutes. 
After  death  the  skin  is  covered  with  dark  spots,  the 
face  becomes  livid  and  swollen,  and  the  whites  of 
the  eyes  turn  yellow." 

Foerset  speaks  thus  of  the  effects  of  the  juice  of 
the  upas.  "  Being  at  Soura  Charta,"  he  says,  "  I 
was  present  at  the  execution  of  three  women.  They 
were  conducted  at  11  A.  M  ,  to  the  square  opposite 
the  palace.  The  judge  passed  sentence  upon  them. 
They  were  presented  with  the  Koran,  upon  which 
they  had  to  swear  that  their  sentence  was  just,  and 
this  they  did,  placing  one  hand  upon  the  book,  the 
other  upon  their  breast,  and  raising  their  eyes  to 
heaven.  Afterward  the  executioner  proceeded  to  his 
grim  business  in  the  following  manner: 

"  Three  stakes  had  been  prepared,  and  to  these 
the  convicts  were  bound.  They  remained  in  this  po- 
sition, saying  their  prayers,  until  the  judge  gave  the 
signal,  when  the  executioner  pricked  each  of  them 
in  the  breast  with  a  lancet  that  had  been  dipped  in 
the  resin  of  the  upas.  Instantly  they  were  seized 
with  violent  trembling,  then  with  convulsions,  and 
in  six  minutes  neither  of  the  three  survived.  I  saw 
that  their  skin  was  marked  with  livid  spots,  their 
10 


146  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

faces  were  swollen,  their  color  bluish,  and  their  eves 
yellow. 

"  I  had  occasion  to  witness  another  execution  at 
Samarang,  when  seven  Malays  were  put  to  death,  and 
the  effects  of  the  poison  were  just  the  same." 

The  Dutch  writer  gives  additional  narratives, 
which  we  must,  however,  look  upon  as  fabulous ;  but 
as  in  the  foregoing,  he  deals  with  facts  which  are 
confirmed  by  other  writers,  and  are  explained  by  the 
known  violence  of  the  poison,  we  have  mentioned 
his  statements. 

The  forests  of  Java  present  little  that  is  attract- 
ive to  European  explorers,  and  in  passing  through 
them,  a  feeling  of  fear  is  mingled  with  curiosity. 
"  On  all  sides,"  says  Schleiden,  "  palm-trees  armed 
with  thorns  and  long  prickles;  seeds  with  their 
edged  leaves  sharp  as  knives,  repel  with  their  dan- 
gerous weapons,  all  those  who  attempt  to  pass  into 
the  primitive  forest ;  and  everywhere  an  undergrowth 
of  formidable  nettles  threatens  the  intruder.  Great 
black  ants  torment  the  traveller  with  their  danger- 
ous bites,  and  crowds  of  innumerable  insects  follow 
and  persecute  him  on  his  path.  After  having  avoid- 
ed or  overcome  all  these  obstacles,  he  arrives  before 
massive  ramparts  of  bamboo,  thick  as  the  arm  and 
50  feet  high,  whose  hard,  glassy  bark  turns  the 
edge  of  the  best  hatchet.  When  this  new  obstruction 
is  overcome,  the  traveller  at  last  reaches  the  majestic 
dome  of  the  virgin  forest,  properly  so-called ;  gigan- 
tic trunks  of  bread-fruit-trees,  and  of  the  teak,  the 
wood  of  which  is  almost  a?  hard  as  iron  ;  leguminous 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

plants,  with  their  clusters  of  splendid  flowers;  bar- 
ringtonias,  fig-trees,  and  laurels,  form  the  colonnades 
which  support  the  wonderful  leafy  vault. 

Monkeys  are  sporting  merrily  from  branch  to 
branch  above  him,  provoking  him  by  making  him 
the  mark  at  which  they  throw  their  fruits ;  as  he  ap- 
proaches, he  sees  the  orang-outang  with  severe  and 
melancholy  aspect,  leaping  from  a  moss-covered  rock, 
and  with  the  aid  of  a  club,  making  his  way  into  the 
thicket.  The  forests  abound  in  animal  life,  unlike 
our  own  silent  forests  of  the  West.  Here  climbing 
plants  rise  spirally  round  the  colossal  pillars,  and 
overtop  the  gigantic  trees,  forming  from  the  root  to 
a  height  of  100  feet,  nothing  but  a  single  leafless 
rope.  The  enormous  leaves  green  and  glossy,  alter- 
nate with  huge  tendrils  which  support  them,  while 
fragrant  umbels  composed  of  rich  clusters  of  white 
flowers,  hang  about  in  all  directions.  This  plant,  of 
the  family  of  the  Apocyneal  (Strychnos  tiente\  fur- 
nishes in  its  roots  the  terrible  rajah  upas,  or  poi- 
son of  princes. 

A  tiger  having  received  the  very  slightest  wound 
with  a  weapon  that  has  been  dipped  in  this  poison, 
or  struck  with  a  little  wooden  arrow  blown  through 
the  tube  called  the  sarba-cane,  begins  to  tremble, 
stands  on  his  feet  for  a  minute,  and  then  tumbles 
over  as  if  struck  by  lightning,  and  dies  in  convul- 
sions. Curiously  enough,  the  part  of  this  tree  that 
rises  above  the  earth,  is  harmless,  and  even  the  sap 
has  no  dangerous  properties.  As  the  traveller  ad- 
vances, he  meets  with  a  splendid  tree,  the  trunk  of 


14:8  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

which  rises  free  of  branches,  from  60  to  80  feet  high, 
bearing  aloft  a  superb  crown  of  foliage,  which  over- 
top the  humbler  vegetation  around.  But  woe  is  the 
traveller,  if  his  skin  touches  the  milky  juice  which 
its  bark  contains  in  abundance,  and  which  it  is  ever 
ready  to  spurt  forth.  Blisters  and  ulcers  much  more 
painful  and  terrible,  though  not  unlike  those  pro- 
duced by  the  poisonous  sumac- tree,  appear  at  once. 
This  is  the  autjar  of  the  Javanese  ;  the  poJion  upas 
(poison  tree)  of  the  Malays  ;  the  ypo  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Celebes  and  the  Philippines.  (Antiaris 
toxicaria.)  The  use  of  this  upas  poison,  a  prac- 
tice which  at  one  time  prevailed  through  nearly  all 
the  islands  of  the  South,  is  giving  way  to  Euro- 
pean firearms  everywhere  except  in  the  most  re- 
mote and  inaccessible  parts  of  these  islands. 


THE    VALLEY    OF    DEATH. 

We  cannot  conclude  this  short  sketch  of  poisonous 
trees,  and  especially  the  description  of  the  upas-tree 
of  Java,  without  saying  a  word  about  that  valley  the 
deadly  character  of  which  is  attributed  by  the  igno- 
rant natives  to  the  exhalations  that  rise  from  these 
terrible  trees.  Let  us  here  again  follow  the  narrative 
of  Schleiden. 

Leaving  the  dense  virgin  forest  the  traveller  ascends 
a  small  hill  and  suddenly  there  is  spread  out  before  him 
a  fearful  wilderness,  a  genuine  realm  of  death.  The 
small  level  valley  shows  not  a  trace  of  vegetable  life  ; 
nothing  is  seen  but  the  bare  soil  burnt  by  the  sun's 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.          149 

fierce  heat.  Death  alone  dwells  here,  and  the  ground 
is  literally  strewn  with  skeletons.  Often  a  tiger  may 
be  seen  lying  as  destruction  seized  him  in  the  very 
act  of  leaping  upon  his  prey,  or  an  unclean  bird  as  he 
swooped  from  the  clouds  to  seize  upon  the  carcass. 
Piles  of  coleoptera  ants  and  other  insects  are  lying 
here  and  there  and  bear  witness  to  the  justness  of  the 
name,  Valley  of  Death,  which  the  natives  have  bestow- 
ed upon  this  place  of  desolation.  But  the  fearful 


The  Valley  of  Death  (Java). 

character  of  the  valley  does  not  arise  from  the  tree, 
as  was  formerly  believed,  but  from  the  emanations  of 
carbonic  acid  which,  because  of  its  specific  gravity, 
does  not  mix  with  the  upper  layers  of  the  atmosphere. 
As  in*  the  famous  Grotto  del  Cane  near  Naples,  and 
the  Yapor  Cave  at  Pyrmont,  in  Germany,  here  also 
this  gas  brings  infallible  death  to  all  living  beings 
that  breathe  near  the  ground.  Man  alone,  to  whom 
God  has  given  the  faculty  of  walking  upright,  trav- 


150  THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

erses  with  impunity  this  deadly  valley,  since  these 
choking  vapors  do  not  reach  to  the  height  of  his  head. 
Just  as  the  oppression  felt  in  ascending  the  Himalaya 
to  the  height  of  15,000  or  16,000  feet,  was  attributed 
by  the  natives  to  the  poisonous  emanations  of  certain 
herbs,  so  the  terrible  phenomena  of  the  Valley  of  Death 
also  were  formerly  charged  to  the  exhalations  of  the 
upas-tree,  and  assumed  all  the  more  formidable  pro- 
portions in  the  mind  of  credulous  natives  and  ig- 
norant travellers,  as  no  antidote  has  yet  been  dis- 
covered. 

We  do  not  envy  the  inhabitants  of  the  tropics 
their  cow-tree,  and,  content  with  the  gift  of  useful 
caoutchouc,  we  readily  give  up  all  the  rest  of  the  luxu- 
riant vegetation  of  those  countries,  which  combine 
such  terrors  with  all  their  beauties.  As  yet  no  anti- 
dote known  is  able  to  counteract  the  effects  of  any  of 
these  poisons,  which  as  so  many  dismal  enigmas 
threaten  the  human  race.  They  confirm  the  saying 
that  the  brilliant  light  of  tropical  nature  necessitates 
equally  dark  shadows,  and  that  more  than  one  formi- 
dable dragon  as  yet  guards  the  entrance  of  these  gar- 
dens of  the  Hesperides. 


The  Oaks. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LONG-LIVED  TREES  AND  GIANT  TKEES. 

1.  Longevity  of  Trees. 

OF  all  the  objects  with  which  nature  has  clothed  the 
earth,  nothing  gives  us  a  clearer  idea  of  the  age 
of  our  globe  than  those  trees  whose  branches  have 
sheltered  generation  after  generation  for  thousands  of 
years.  There  is  something  mysterious  and  fascinating 
in  the  form  of  an  immense,  great  tree.  For  our  own 
part  we  have  rarely  witnessed  the  new  life  of  spring, 
clothing,  year  after  year,  a  tree  with  its  splendid,  ever- 
new  apparel  of  leaves,  without  being  deeply  impress- 
ed and  almost  overwhelmed  with  the  comparative 
brevity  of  human  life.  The  monuments  of  man  live 


152  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

longer  than  man  himself,  to  be  sure  ;  but  they  do  not 
live  with  the  life  of  nature.  The  mountains  also 
have  witnessed  the  changes  of  ages,  but  they  have  no 
individuality  with  which  we  can  become  familiar. 

The  tree,  On  the  contrary,  like  the  flower,  is  an 
individual  which  watches  us  and  stands  before  our 
eyes  as  a  silent  witness  of  our  existence.  That  tree 
existed  long  before  we  ever  saw  the  light — it  has 
seen  the  ages  that  preceded  us ;  men  without  number 
have  passed  at  its  feet  who  were  our  distant  ancestors 
during  these  mysterious  epochs  previous  to  our  exist- 
ence. And  when  we  shall  pass  away,  and  the  place  of 
our  habitation  shall  know  us  no  more,  the  tree  will 
remain,  calm  and  silent  as  to-day  ;  it  will  put  forth  its 
leaves  every  spring,  and  other  generations  will  come 
and  play  around  its  foot  as  we  have  done. 

Large  trees  count  their  age  by  centuries.  Who 
has  not  heard  of  the  "  Oak  of  the  Partisans  "  in  the 
department  of  the  Vosges,  which  a  few  feet  above 
the  ground  measures  40  feet  in  circumference  and  16 
feet  at  that  part  of  its  trunk  where  it  sends  out  its 
main  branches  ?  Its  height  is  101  feet,  its  diameter  75 
feet.  It  is  nearly  650  years  of  age,  and  dates  back  to 
the  days  of  Philip  Augustus,  when  "  partisans,"  as  the 
rebels  of  the  day  were  called,  laid  France  waste. 

At  the  base  of  the  southern  slope  of  Mont  Blanc, 
in  the  forest  of  Ferri,  near  the  pass  of  that  name, 
there  .is  a  larch  18  feet  in  circumference  above  the 
collar  of  the  root,  which,  by  its  size,  has  been  pre- 
sumed to  be  800  years  of  age. 

Not  far  from  this  larch  is  a  pine  on  the  mountains 


THE  WON  DEES   OF  VEGETATION.          153 

of  Beque,  which  is  called  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country  "  the  stable  of  the  chamois,"  because  it  serves 
as  a  shelter  for  these  animals  during  winter.  It  meas- 
ures nearly  24  feet  in  circumference  and  15  feet  at  the 
first  branches.  In  spite  of  its  magnificent  growth  and 
still  verdant  foliage,  it  is  said  to  be  1,200  years  old. 

At  first -sight  it  seems  astonishing  that  the  appear- 
ance of  a  tree  should  enable  us  to  determine,  at  least 
approximately,  its  age,  and  yet  the  explanation  is  very 
simple. 

Every  year  a  new  layer  of  wood  forms  itself  upon 
the  tree,  and  when  the  trunk  is  sawn  through  the 
number  of  years  it  has  lived  is  indicated  by  the 
number  of  concentric  rings ;  since  each  ring  in  the 
wood  represents  the  new  layer  which  has  been  formed 
that  year.  A  tree  that  shows  a  hundred  rings,  is 
generally  regarded  as  having  lived  a  century.  It  is 
by  these  observations  upon  the  trees  themselves  or 
upon  others  of  the  same  species,  and  by  ingenious  de- 
ductions, that  botanists  succeed  in  determining  the  age 
of  trees. 

The  plants  which  in  all  parts  of  the  world  acquire 
the  most  remarkable  size  are  the  yews,  the  chestnuts, 
several  bamboos,  the  mimosas,  the  cisalpinias,  the  fig- 
trees,  the  mahogany-trees,  the  cypresses,  and  the  wes- 
tern plane-trees.  We  do  not  speak  of  the  race  of  gi- 
gantic trees  in  California,  which  surpass  all  others,  and 
the  dimensions  of  which  will  be  given  in  a  future 
chapter. 


154          THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 


THE  AGE  OF  SOME  TREES. 

At  Fortingall,  in  Scotland,  there  is  a  yew-tree 
more  than  3,000  years  old.  In  France,  at  Foullebec 
(Department  of  the  Eure),  a  yew  measured  in  1822 
appeared  to  be  1,100  or  1,200  years  old. 

Adanson  measured  at  Cape  Yert  a  baobab  over 
ninety  feet  in  circumference ;  and  by  comparing  it 
with  younger  trees  of  the  same  species  he  was  led  to 
believe  that  this  giant  was  5,000  years  old ;  but 
doubts  have  since  arisen  whether  the  principle  of 
measuring  by  annual  rings  can  be  applied  to  this  fam- 
ily of  trees.  Golberg,  measured  another  which  was 
112  feet  in  circumference,  and  consequently  must 
have  been  still  older.  But  the  most  remarkable  is 
the  colossal  pine  of  California  (Sequoia),  which  rises 
to  the  height  of  300  feet,  and  is  thirty  feet  in  diam- 
eter. The  concentric  layers  of  one  of  these  immense 
trunks,  if  correctly  measured,  prove  that  their  age  is 
6,000  years,  which  would  have  made  him  contem- 
poraneous with  the  earliest  dynasties  of  Eygpt. 

In  Europe  the  lime-tree  or  linden,  seems  to  be 
capable  of  living  the  longest  and  attaining  the  most 
gigantic  proportions.  The  linden-tree  of  Neustadt, 
in  the  kingdom  of  Wiirtemberg,  is  a  remarkable  in- 
stance. Its  magnificent  crown  measures  400  feet  in 
circumference,  and  its  branches  are  upheld  by  106 
stone  columns.  The  tree  was  an  old  tree  in  the  year 
1 229,  when  a  great  fire  destroyed  the  old  town,  and  the 
new  town  was,  according  to  a  document  still  extant, 
built  close  to  "  the  big  tree."  In  the  year  1558,  the 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.          155 

Duke  of  Wiirtemberg  surrounded  it  with  four  porches, 
and  caused  his  armorial  bearings  to  be  painted  upon 
two  of  these  columns.  At  the  top  the  linden-tree 
of  Neustadt  divides  into  two  great  branches,  one  of 
which  was  broken  by  a  tempest  in  1773,  while  the 
other  at  the  present  day  is  still  nourishing  and  110 
feet  in  length. 

The  linden-tree  of  Freiburg,  though  of  smaller 
size,  is  of  historical  interest.  It  has  grown  up  from  a 
branch  planted  on  the  day  of  the  battle  of  Morat,  be- 
side the  corpse  of  a  young  Freiburger  who  had 
died  on  the  spot  from  over-exertion  in  hastening  to 
cheer  his  native  town  by  the  welcome  news  of  the 
victory. 

The  linden-tree  of  Yillars-en-Moing,  near  Frei- 
burg, is  still  older,  for  it  was  already  famous  in  1476, 
when  this  great  battle  was  fought.  Its  circumference 
does  not  measure  less  than  40  feet ;  its  height  is  75 
feet ;  and  its  crown  is  still  a  vast  mass  of  almost  im- 
pervious foliage. 

After  the  lime-tree,  the  oak  grows  to  the  greatest 
size  in  Europe. 

England  possesses  very  remarkable  specimens  both 
for  age  and  size.  The  following  are  some  of  the 
measurements : 

The  famous  oak  of  Clipson  Park  is  1 ,500  years  old, 
since  the  park,  which  belongs  to  the  Duke  of  Port- 
land, existed  before  the  Norman  Conquest.  The  larg- 
est oak  in  England  is  the  oak  of  Calthorpe,  in  York- 
shire. It  is  78  feet  in  circumference  at  its  base. 

The  Shire  oak,  so  called  because  it  stood  on  a  spot 


156  THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 

where  the  counties  of  Nottingham,  Derby  and  York 
met,  and  its  shadow  thus  covered  a  portion  of  each, 
extends  its  foliage  over  an  era  of  780  square  yards. 
The  most  productive  of  oaks  ever  known,  was  one  in 
the  county  of  Monmouth.  It  was  cut  down  in  1810  ; 
the  bark  alone  was  sold  for  200  pounds  sterling ;  and 
the  wood  for  670  pounds.  (These  figures  are  tak- 
en from  the  British  Review.}  In  the  manor  of 
Tredegar,  in  the  same  county,  a  hall  42  feet  long  by 
27  feet  wide,  was  floored  and  wainscoted  with  the 
timber  of  a  single  oak-tree  taken  from  the  park. 

The  oak  of  Autrage,  in  the  arrondissement  of  Bed- 
fort  (Upper  Khine),  one  of  the  largest  trees  in 
France,  was  felled  a  few  years  ago  It  was  15  feet  in 
diameter  at  the  base  and  more  than  42  feet  in  circum- 
ference. The  trunk  alone  produced  4,500  feet  of 
saleable  timber.  This  oak  is  believed  to  have  been 
in  existence  in  Druidical  times. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  travel  far  from  Paris  to  see 
a  number  of  very  respectable  specimens  of  vegetable 
antiquity.  Without  going  as  far  even  as  the  forest  of 
Fountainebleau,  and  on  the  road  thither,  it  you  stop 
8-t  the  station  of  Montgeron  or  of  Brunoy,  and  make 
an  excursion  into  the  beautiful  forest  of  Senart,  you 
will  come  to  the  little  village  of  Champrosay,  near 
which  there  is  a  "  cross  roads,"  at  which  eight  roads 
meet.  In  the  centre  of  this  opening  stands  the  old 
oak  of  Antein.  The  trunk  is  18  feet  in  circumfer- 
ence ;  and  the  space  covered  with  the  foliage  is  90 
square  feet.  Many  of  its  branches  have  been  cut 
down — they  were  no  longer  useful  as  formerly,  to  bear 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.          159 

the  evidence  of  the  owner's  power  of  jurisdiction,  who 
used  to  hang  culprits  there. 

Among  the  ancient  and  marvellous  trees  which  ex- 
cite the  interest  of  travellers  in  the  highest  degree, 
the  immense  oak  at  Allouville,  near  Yvetot,  must  be 
numbered  among  those  to  which  memory  most  fre- 
quently returns.  Much  has  been  said  and  written 
about  this  tree ;  and  though  the  simple  villagers  that 
dwell  around  know  nothing  of  all  the  scientific  dis- 
cussions of  which  it  has  been  the  subject,  they  regard 
it  with  pride  and  with  tender  affections.  Their  an- 
cestors have  sat  beneath  in  its  shade ;  and  their  own 
children  are  now  playing  around  it,  as  so  many  gen- 
erations have  done  before  them. 

It  stands  in  the  centre  of  a  graveyard,  and  often 
peasants  from  all  the  country  around  come  to  kneel 
under  its  heavy  branches  and  there  to  pour  out  to 
God  their  sorrows  and  their  grief.  Just  above  the 
ground  it  measures  thirty  feet  in  circumference,  and 
twenty -four  feet  at  a  man's  height.  In  the  interior  of 
the  hollow  trunk  a  little  chapel  has  been  fitted  up, 
and  above,  as  it  were  in  the  second  story,  a  rustic  her 
mit  lives,  while  still  higher  in  the  tree  a  small  belfry, 
surmounted  by  a  cross,  has  been  built  and  crowns  the 
marvellous  edifice. 

This  oak  cannot  be  less  than  900  years  old.  The 
interior  was  fitted  up  as  early  as  the  seventeenth  centu- 
ry and  the  chapel  dedicated  to  the  virgin.  During 
the  Revolution  ignorant  fanatics,  who  delighted  in  de- 
struction, attempted  on  several  occasions  to  burn  down 
this  venerable  historic  monument ;  but  the  inhabitants 


160  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

of  Allouville  and  its  neighborhood,  who  regarded  the 
old  oak  with  sacred  fondness,  turned  out  in  arms  an:! 
protected  it  against  the  Vandals. 

Let  us  hope  that  many  generations  yet  will  enjoy 
its  broad  and  pleasant  shade. 

The  aspect  of  this  tree  excites  a  deeper  interest 
perhaps  than  that  of  many  structures  left  us  by  races 
existing  no  more.  There  seems  to  be  something  pe- 
culiarly eloquent  in  this  great  tree,  that  year  :if'iT  \  (Mi- 
renews  its  youth,  though  it  has  seen  as  many  graves 
close  and  open  again  as  the  cold  and  silent  stones  of 
ancient  temples;  and  we  know  of  no  history  that  has 
touched  us  more  deeply  than  the  humble  and  pious 
traditions  of  kings  and  warriors  who  have  rested 
under  its  shade,  of  troubadours  who  have  sung  its 
praise,  and  of  the  tempests  that  have  raged  against  it 
without  ever  impairing  its  beauty. 

One  day  on  a  pleasure  tour  returning  from  Caude- 
bec  to  Yvetot,  we  went  out  of  our  way  to  visit  this 
famous  oak.  What  struck  us  particularly  about  it 
was  to  find  that  little  else  was  left  of  the  tree  but  the 
bark.  It  is  entirely  hollow  from  the  root  to  the  top, 
and  the  interior  is  lined  with  wood,  carefully  plastered 
and  wainscoted,  like  a  monk's  cell  or  an  oratory,  and 
yet  the  tree  is  still  as  green  as  those  of  the  forest  near 
by,  and  bears  every  year  abundant  crops  of  acorns. 

The  old  chapel  oak  of  Allouville  is  a  monument 
of  comparatively  modest  pretensions  as  to  antiquity 
compared  with  the  oak  of  Montravaii,  which  is  not  less 
than  1,500  and  perhaps  2,000  years  old.  This  oak, 
which  stands  in  the  court-yard  of  the  farm  of  Montra- 


THE    WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION'.  163 

vail,  near  Saintes,  is  without  doubt  the  patriarch  of  the 
forest  of  the  Saintonge  and  indeed  of  the  whole  of 
France.  It  belongs  to  the  species  of  Quercus  longaeva, 
and  its  admirable  preservation  promises  to.  bear  the 
burden  of  ages  to  come.  It  is  crowned  each  year 

O  t/ 

with  green  and  abundant  foliage,  perhaps  for  the  two 
thousandth  time.  On  a  level  with  the  ground,  its  di- 
ameter is  nearly  30  feet  and  its  circumference  over  80 
feet.  The  spread  of  its  branches  is  380  feet  in  circum- 
ference. 

The  decayed  part  of  the  interior  forms  a  hall  nine 
to  twelve  feet  in  diameter  and  nine  feet  high.  A  cir- 
cular bench  has  been  cut  out  of  the  live  wood  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  visitors,  and  around  the  table  in  the 
centre  a  dozen  people  can  dine  comfortably.  It  is  dec- 
orated with  a  living  tapestry  of  ferns  and  mosses,  and 
light  is  admitted  by  a  window  on  the  left  and  an- 
other in  the  door. 

Of  this  tree  also  but  little  remains  save  the  bark. 
This  is  the  fate  of  almost  all  ancient  plants  which  lose 
their  pith,  their  heart  and  their  wood,  and  continues 
to  subsist  only  by  means  of  their  outer  skeletons. 
Such  is  the  case  especially  with  willows.  We  were 
lately  exploring  the  banks  of  the  Marne,  under  the 
magnificent  viaducts  of  Chaumont,  when  one  of  these 
willows  arrested  our  attention.  There  was  nothing 
left  of  it  but  a  mere  shell ;  the  tree  was  hollow  from 
top  to  bottom.  It  was  still  nourishing,  and  besides  a 
thousand  parasites,  animal  and  vegetable,  lived  in  its 
countless  cracks  and  crevices. 

Even  beeches  are  known  to  have  reached  an  almost 


104          THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

fabulous  old  age  in  some  parts  of  England.  Such  are 
the  famous  Burnham  beeches,  near  Slough,  which 
for  size  and  picturesque  beauty  are  unequalled.  Like 
most  pollarded  trees,  their  girth  is  enormous,  and  their 
moss-grown  roots  are  thrown  out  in  curious  contortions, 
grasping  the  ground  as  if  setting  all  storms  at  defiance. 
Tradition  says  that  Harold's  bowmen  were  encamped 
in  the  wood  a  few  years  before  the  Norman  Conquest, 
and  that  the  Danes  pollarded  the  beeches.  An  Eng- 
lish poet  says  of  them  : 

"  Scathed  by  lightning's  bolts,  the  wintry  storms, 

A  giant  brotherhood,  ye  stand  sublime ; 
Like  some  huge  fortress  each  majestic  form 

Still  frowns  defiance  to  the  power  of  time  ; 
Cloud  after  cloud  the  storms  of  war  have  roll'd 
Since  ye  your  countless  years  of  long  descent  have  told." 

Switzerland,  so  remarkable  for  the  variety  of  its 
natural  treasures,  adds  to  its  beautiful  scenery,  pictur 
esque  landscapes  and  matchless  prospects,  special  beau- 
ties, and  among  these  latter  some  of  the  most  cele- 
brated trees  known  in  Europe. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva  stands  the 
mansion  of  Meillerie,  and  the  rocks  on  which  it  is 
built  are  divided  from  the  water  only  by  the  road  to 
the  Simplon.  A  little  distance  further  on  you  come 
to  Neuve-Gelle,  which  has  one  of  the  most  famous 
chestnut-trees  of  the  world.  Ever  since  the  fifteenth 
century  this  chestnut- tree  has  given  shelter  to  a  mod- 
est hermitage,  and  no  doubt  it  was  at  that  time  already 
a  tree  of  respectable  age.  At  present  its  base  measures 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          167 

forty-six  feet  in  circumference ;  but  having  been  re- 
peatedly strucfe  by  lightning,  it  has  been  stunted  in  its 
growth ;  the  girth  of  its  branches  nevertheless  gives 
it  a  venerable  aspect,  and  each  summer  crowds  of 
visitors  come  to  see  the  famous  tree  and  to  rest  under 
its  shade. 

At  Prilly,  near  Lausanne,  there  is  a  linden-tree 
under  which  500  years  ago  justice  was  administer- 
ed. The  municipality  of  Lausanne  watches  over  its 
preservation,  dear  as  it  is  to  the  whole  canton, 
and  a  little  fountain  serves  to  keep  its  roots  moist. 
Nor  must  we  forget  the  baths  of  Evian,  where,  a  little 
below  the  road  grow  two  rose-trees  of  the  same  form 
and  almost  equal  in  height  and  width.  These  are 
not  gigantic  monuments,  like  the  colossal  trees  of 
which  we  have  spoken,  but  they  no  less  surprise  trav- 
ellers by  their  size.  For  these  marvellous  rose-trees  are 
certainly  of  respectable  size  for  flowers — their  trunks 
measure  more  than  ten  inches  in  circumference. 

THE    CHESTNUT   ON    MOUNT    ETNA. 

The  chestnut  of  JSTeuve-Gelle  cannot  compare  with 
this  rival,  under  whose  shade  a  hundred  horses  have 
found  shelter.  It  is  said  that  the  Queen  Joan,  of  Ara- 
gon,  ascended  Mount  Etna  during  her  voyage  from 
Spain  to  Naples,  and  that  all  the  nobility  of  Catania  ac- 
companied her  in  her  excursion.  A  tempest  broke  out, 
but  the  queen  and  her  whole  suite  found  easily  shelter 
under  the  foliage  of  this  immense  tree. 

"  This  famous  tree  of  so  vast  a  diameter,"  says 
Jean  Houel,  the  first  traveller  who  gave  a  description 


168  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

of  it  in  the  last  century,  "  is  entirely  hollow,  and 
subsists  now  only  by  means  of  its  bark,  but  does  not 
the  less  cover  itself  every  spring  with  new  foliage. 
The  hollow  of  this  tree  is  so  large  that  the  people  of 
the  neighborhood  have  constructed  a  house  within, 
with  an  oven  for  drying  chestnuts,  filberts  and  almonds, 
and  other  fruits  which  they  wish  to  preserve,  as  is 
the  common  usage  in  Sicily.  When  they  require 
fuel,  they  take  a  hatchet  and  help  themselves  from 
the  part  of  the  tree  around  their  dwelling.  For 
this  reason  this  magnificent  chestnut  is  nearly  de- 
stroyed. 

"  Some  people  believe  that  this  colossus  consists  of 
several  chestnut-trees,  which,  pressing  the  one  against 
the  other  and  no  longer  maintaining  their  individual 
bark,  have  grown  together  and  appear  as  a  single  tree 
to  careless  eyes.  This  is  a  mistake.  All  the  parts, 
though  mutilated  by  time  and  the  hand  of  man,  be- 
long to  one  and  the  same  trunk." 

Careful  examination  seems  really  to  prove  that  all 
these  diverging  branches  have  but  one  system  of  roots. 
Moreover,  Brydone,  wTho  visited  it  in  1770,  states 
that  his  guide,  following  up  the  traditions  of  the 
country,  assured  him  that  at  a  time  long  past  a  single 
unbroken  bark  covered  the  trunk  all  around,  although 
at  the  present  day  only  a  few  remnants  of  it  can  be 
seen.  Canon  Recupero,  a  Sicilian  naturalist,  affirmed 
in  the  presence  of  the  English  traveller  and  many 
other  witnesses,  that  the  root  of  this  colossal  tree  was 
a  single  one.  The  best  proof  in  support  of  the  one- 
ness of  this  tree  is  the  example  furnished  by  other 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          17] 

chestnut-trees  on  Mount  Etna,  which  have  a  diameter 
of  thirty-six  feet. 

The  tree  we  are  describing  is  160  feet  in  circum- 
ference— it  is  impossible  to  assign  a  limit  to  its  prob- 
able age. 

At  the  present  day  an  opening  sufficiently  large 
to  allow  two  carriages  to  pass  through  it  abreast, 
penetrates  it  from  side  to  side,  but  this  circumstance 
does  not  prevent  the  venerable  tree  from  covering 
itself  every  year  with  bloom  and  fruit. 

It  ought  to  be  added,  however,  in  conclusion,  that 
it  was  the  custom  of  ancient  horticulturists  to  plant 
around  a  single  shoot  a  number  of  others  of  the  same 
species,  so  as  to  produce  the  appearance  of  a  single 
tree,  which  time  would  mature  to  a  colossal  size.  They 
peeled  off  the  bark  on  the  inside,  and  soon  a  single 
bark  came  to  envelope  the  whole.  This  practice  was 
pursued  especially  with  olive-trees. 


THE    SMYRNA   PLANE-TREE. 

In  the  middle  of  the  plain  of  Smyrna,  in  Asia 
Minor,  near  the  road  that  leads  to  Bournabat,  is  to  be 
seen  the  old  plane-tree  represented  in  our  illustration. 
Its  singular  form  is  not  more  surprising  than  its  di- 
mensions. 

Bournabat  is  a  village  containing  a  grotto,  in 
which,  according  to  tradition,  Homer  wrote  the  Iliad. 
This  picturesque  place  is  the  favorite  retreat  of  the 
rich  merchants  of  Smyrna,  who  have  built  here  their 
country  houses.  But  the  pedestrians,  and  even  the 


172  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

horsemen  travelling  from  the  city  to  the  country,  love 
to  pursue  a  path  running  parallel  to  and  near  the 
main  road,  which  passes  under  this  marvellous  vege- 
table gate,  formed  by  the  divisions  of  the  trunk. 
The  two  stems,  though  divided,  are  sufficiently  strong 
to  bear  the  enormous  weight  of  the  plane-tree,  the 
lofty  branches  of  which  afford  a  view  over  one  of  the 
most  lovely  bays  of  the  Asiatic  coast. 

From  this  point  we  can  see  the  Oriental  ceme- 
teries of  Smyrna,  the  most  famous  next  to  those  of 
Pera  and  Scutari,  dark  with  the  sombre  shades  of 
countless  cypresses.  The  view  commands  the  plain, 
also,  from  the  eastern  limits  of  the  great  city  to  the 
fertile  slopes  in  the  west,  that  fall  into  the  sea. 


THE  PLANE-TREE  OF  COS. 

Cos,  the  celebrated  island  of  the  Sporades,  that 
gave  birth  to  Hippocrates,  the  greatest  of  the  physi- 
cians, and  to  Apelles,  the  greatest  of  the  painters  of 
Greece,  contains  in  the  centre  of  the  public  square,  a 
magnificent  plane-tree,  famous  throughout  the  world. 
Its  far-spreading  branches  cover  the  whole  square. 
Left  to  themselves,  these  branches  would  break  of 
their  own  weight,  if  the  inhabitants  had  not  under- 
taken to  support  them  on  columns  of  marble.  They1 
devote  to  this  monarch  of  trees  a  kind  of  worship 
not  less  sincere,  nor  less  profound,  than  they  pay  to 
the  surrounding  edifices, -the  last  witnesses  of  their 
former  grandeur. 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  173 


THE    PLANE-TREE    OF    GODFREY    OF   BOUILLON. 

What  is  called  the  plane-tree  of  Godfrey  of  Bouil- 
lon, is  rather  a  system  of  nine  trees  forming  three 
very  close  groups.  Martins,  who  has  seen  and  de- 
scribed it,  regards  it  as  the  most  colossal  plant  in  ex- 
istence ;  and  Mr.  Gautier  calls  it  "  not  a  tree,  but  a 
forest."  "  Commencing  from  the  east,"  says  the  first 
of  these  writers,  "  we  first  perceive  two  trunks  joined 
together,  which,  at  a  height  of  three  feet  above  ground, 
measure  35  feet  in  circumference.  A  space  of  15  feet 
has  been  hollowed  out  by  fire.  Then  comes  a  single 
trunk  17  feet  in  circumference.  The  last  group  con- 
sists of  six  trunks,  forming,  so  to  speak,  one  tree,  over 
70  feet  in  circumference.  This  enormous  trunk  also 
has  been  hollowed  by  fire,  for  Turkish  barbarism  ad- 
mires nothing,  and  respects  nothing.  A  horse  put  up 
in  this  cavity,  was  perfectly  comfortable  in  his  new 
stable."  Martins  estimates  the  height  of  this  vege- 
table mass  to  be  over  180  feet.  The  space  cover- 
ed by  the  foliage  is  340  feet  in  circumference. 
From  the  tents  under  the  shelter  of  the  tree,  one  can 
see  Bujugdere,  a  village  on  the  Bosphorus,  not  far 
from  which  is  the  famous  plateau  of  Godfrey  of  Bou- 
illon. 

THE   YEW   OF   LA    MOTTE-FEUILLY. 

This  yew-tree  is  at  once  the  monument  of  nature 
and  of  history.  A  monument  of  nature,  for  it  bears 
traces  of  an  age  that  must  be  counted  by  centuries, 
>•*»  trunk  being  not  less  than  24  feet  in  circumfer- 


174          THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 

ence,  while  the  shadow  cast  by  its  still  green  branch- 
es, covers  an  extent  of  70  feet.  A  monument  of  his- 
tory, for  after  seeing  the  Roman  legions  pass,  it  was 
watered  by  the  tears  of  Charlotte  d'Albret,  the  .un- 
fortunate wife  of  Caesar  Borgia,  Duke  of  "Valentinois, 
and  by  those  of  Jeanne,  of  France,  divorced  from 
Louis  XII.,  who  came  hither  to  mingle  her  grief 
with  that  of  her  cousin. 

At  present  one-half  of  the  tree  is  dead,  and  no 
longer  reclothes  itself  with  foliage  in  the  spring ;  but 
the  main  trunk  remains  a  permanent  monument  of 
an  age  long  gone  by.  This  yew  stands  in  one  of  the 
courts  of  the  feudal  castle  of  la  Motte-Feuilly,  not 
far  from  the  road  leading  from  Chatre  to  Chateau- 
meillant,  on  the  borders  of  the  former  provinces  of 
Berry  and  la  Marche. 

THE   ELM    OF   BRIGNOLES. 

There  is  in  the  department  of  the  Yar,  a  little 
river  called  the  Caranci,  which  now  flows  outside  of 
the  walls  of  Brignoles,  but  which  formerly  passed, 
if  we  believe  the  local  tradition,  through  the  centre 
of  the  square  which  still  bears  its  name,  at  the  foot 
of  a  venerable  elm.  This  aged  tree  was  already 
well  known  in  the  fifteenth  century,  having  witnessed 
great  events,  and  given  shelter  to  countless  guests. 
In  the  sixteenth  century,  Michel  de  PHopital  sang 
its  magnificent  proportions,  to  while  away  the  time 
of  his  exile  in  Provence.  King  Charles  IX.  was 
present  on  the  25th  of  October,  1564,  at  a  to/7  cham- 
petre,  which  was  given  under  this  gigantic  el  in 


T'lK   <Y''VMO;i!-:    OF   TKONS. 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  177 

Now  this  ancient  patriarch  of  woods  is  supported  by 
a  wooden  column,  which  is  truly   the  staff  of  old 


THE    SYCAMORE  OF   TRONS. 

In  the  long  valley  of  the  Varder  Rlieintlial, 
which  shelters  the  Rhine  in  its  infancy,  stands  the 
little  town  of  Trons.  Near  the  village,  a  venerable 
tree  covers  with  its  vast  crown  of  leaves,  a  small 
chapel.  In  1424,  deputies  of  all  the  communities  of 
the  valley  assembled  under  its  branches  in  order  to 
form  the  federation  which  resulted  in  the  Republic 
of  Grisons.  The  fourth  centennary  of  this  memor- 
able event  was  celebrated  in  1824,  and  in  memory  of 
the  occasion,  the  little  chapel  was  built,  on  the  por- 
tico of  which  was  the  following  inscription  :  "  You 
are  called  to  Liberty — Where  the  Spirit  of  God  is, 
there  is  deliverance — Our  fathers  hoped  in  Thee,  oh ! 
Lord,  and  Thou  hast  made  them  free."  This  tree 
was  long  called  the  plane-tree  of  Trons,  and  it  is  un- 
der this  name  that  it  is  still  known  generally.  It  is, 
however,  not  a  plane-tree,  but  a  true  sycamore. 

At  the  elevation  at  which  it  grows,  the  plane- 
trees  finds  no  longer  the  conditions  under  which  it 
thrives. 

At  20  inches  above  the  soil,  it  is  28  feet  in  cir- 
cumference. 

In  his    journey   to    Nuremburg,   Mr.    Edouard 

Charton  mentions  a  visit  which  he  paid  to  the  old 

linden-tree  in  that  town,  "  planted,"  he  says,  "  by 

the  Empress  Ivunigunde."  Formerly,  on  the  occasion 

12 


178  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

of  great  festivals  held  in  this  German  city,  dances 
were  held  under  its  shelter.  Its  branches  then  cov- 
ered the  entire  court-yard  in  which  it  stands.  On  the 
day  on  which  Albrecht  Durer's  father  took  up  his  res- 
idence in  the  ancient  town,  in  the  year  1445,  the  pa- 
trician, Philip  Pirkleimer,  celebrated  his  wedding  un- 
der this  linden-tree.  Four  statues  surround  the  tree 
now,  representing  four  ancient  emperors  of  Germany. 


There  is  nothing  remarkable  from  a  botanical 
point  of  view,  about  the  favorite  tree  of  the  poet  Al- 
exander Pope,  near  Binfield.  It  is  a  poor  beach  al- 
most bare  of  leaves  and  branches,  withered,  and  weak 
with  age,  and  half  destroyed  by  lightning. 

Yet,  in  approaching  it,  a  feeling  of  respect  stirs 
our  whole  being.  What  a  mysterious  power  there 
dwells  in  our  association  of  ideas,  which  draw  even 
inanimate  things  within  the  circle  of  our  sympathies, 
and  admit  them,  as  it  were,  to  the  number  of  our 
friends. 

Seven  miles  from  "Windsor  stands  the  tree  to 
which  Pope  came  in  his  youth,  to  dream  away  the 
hours,  and  to  receive  his  first  impressions  of  the  outer 
world.  Its  bark  is  covered  with  inscriptions  in  honor 
of  the  poet,  and  all  around,  on  trees  and  stones,  are 
engraved  extracts  from  his  principal  works. 


In  the  English  Park  which  surrounds  the  Italian 
Villa  of  Feuillancourt  stands  a  gigantic  poplar,  which 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.          179 

is  entirely  covered  with  a  mass  of  ivy,  growing  larger 
and  thicker  every  year.  This  originally  sprung  from 
a  slip  planted  by  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  who  was 
here  as  the  guest  of  a  gentleman  to  whom  the  estate 
at  that  time  belonged. 

The  manner  in  which  Rousseau  put  a  sudden  ter- 
mination to  the  friendship  between  His  host  and  him- 
self is  rather  curious.  The  Duke  of  Noailles,  propri- 
etor of  a  very  beautiful  park  at  Saint  Germain,  wished 
to  see  and  chat  with  Ron  >seau.  As  a  direct  invitation 
from  the  duke  would  certainly  have  been  refused,  for 
we  know  the  misanthropic  character  of  Rousseau,  and 
his  aversion  to  the  world,  the  duke  resolved  to  em- 
ploy a  stratagem,  and  requested  the  poet's  host,  Tro- 
chereau,  to  bring  his  friend  into  the  park  on  the  plea 
of  making  a  botanical  excursion.  The  duke  was  to 
wait  behind  the  gate,  and  when  the  poet  passed  he 
was  to  appear  as  if  by  accident  and  invite  both  to 
come  and  see  his  collection  of  plants.  All  went  well 
up  to  the  moment,  when  the  philosopher  caught  sight 
of  the  duke.  In  an  instant  he  disappeared,  and  Tro- 
chereau  sought  him  in  vain.  On  the  following  day 
Rousseau  wrote  to  his  friend,  informing  him  that  from 
that  day  he  would  cease  to  know  him. 

There  exists  at  Paris,  in  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  a 
tree  230  years  of  age — Robin's  acacia. 

This  plant,  we  are  officially  informed,  has  been 
the  mother-plant  of  all  the  innumerable  acacias  which 
now  adorn  the  gardens  and  woods  of  Europe  and 
America.  It  stands  in  a  square  near  the  Rue  de  Buf- 
fon,  but  its  worm-eaten  stem,  full  of  chinks  that  have 


180          THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 

been  stopped  with  plaster,  has  been  protected  by  an 
iron  armor.  As  may  well  be  imagined,  nothing  has 
been  neglected  that  can  prolong  the  existence  of  this 
.patriarch  of  locusts,  well  known  to  all  visitors  of  the 
1  Jardin  des  Plantes,  who  every  spring  eagerly  come  and 
examine  its  branches  to  see  whether  there  is  still  life 
in  the  old  plant.*  But  evidently  its  days  are  number- 
ed. The  sap,  the  life  blood  of  the  tree,  circulates 
sluggishly  through  it,  and  a  hundred  signs  proclaim 
that  this  tree,  the  oldest  of  all  acacias,  will  soon  be  no 
more. 

Placed  at  the  extremity  of  the  museum  of  miner- 
alogy, in  a  part  of  the  collection-  but  little  frequented, 
it  does  not  attract  the  attention  of  visitors  to  the  same 
extent  as  the  famous  cedar  of  Lebanon,  though  per- 
haps it  is  really  more  worthy  of  notice.  It  was  plant- 
ed in  1635 — a  century  before  the  cedar — in  the  place 
where  it  still  stands,  by  Vespasian  Robin.  The  father 
of  this- naturalist  had  received  it  some  time  previously 
from  North  America,  and  hence  its  botanical  name  of 
Robinia.  This  was  the  same  year  in  which  the  Jar- 
din  Royal'  was  definitely  established  by  an  edict  of 
Louis  XIII. ,  and  of  the  trees  that  were  in  existence  at 
that  time,  this  is  the  only  one  that  remains.  It  is 
also  the  first  acacia  that  ever  came  to  Europe.  It  has 
supplied  not  only  France  but  Europe  with  one  of  the 
most  useful  as  well  as  most  beautiful  species  of  trees. 
Not  far  from  this  acacia  were  formerly  to  be  seen  the 
first  saphora  brought  from  Japan,  and  one  of  the  first 
horse-chestnuts  from  India  that  was  ever  seen  in 
Europe. 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          181 

The  tree  of  the  "  Seven  Brothers,"  in  the  forest 
of  Yillers-Cotterets  is  remarkable  for  its  seven  branch- 
es, which  have  been  so  disposed  as  to  sustain  a  floor 
and  gallery  without  injury  to  its  foliage. 

Walnut-trees  live  to  a  great  age  and  reach  occa- 
sionally gigantic  proportions.  One  of  the  most  mar- 
vellous is  to  be  seen  at  Balaklava,  in  the  Crimea.  It 
produces  each  year  100,000  nuts,  and  is  the  property 
of  five  families. 

The  table  of  St.  Nicholas,  in  Lorraine,  mentioned 
by  De  Candolle,  gives  one  an  idea  of  the  size  to  which 
these  trees  grow.  This  table  is  24  feet  wide  and  is 
all  in  one  piece. 

THE    MAPLE    OF    MATIBO. 

This  plant,  the  type  of  the  "  Lower  trees  "  with 
which  the  skilled  horticulturist  ornaments  our  gardens, 
is  especially  remarkable  for  its  architectural  form. 
This  variety  of  the  sycamore  is  not,  in  fact,  a  marvel 
of  vegetation ;  and,  strictly  speaking,  it  is  not  on  its 
own  merits  to  be  classed  among  the  extraordinary 
plants  which  have  already  been  described — plants 
which  owe  to  nature  alone  this  distinguishing  feature. 
It  is  to  be  seen  in  its  perfection  at  Matibo,  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Savigliano,  near  Coni,  in  Piedmont.  The 
skill  and  perseverance  of  the  horticultural  architect 
has  made  an  astonishing  metamorphosis  of  it.  In  its 
cultivated  state  it  appears  like  a  structure  of  two  sto- 
ries. Each  of  these  has  eight  windows  naturally  form- 
ed and  can  contain  twenty  people.  The  flooring  is 
managed  by  a  skilful  arrangement  of  the  branches, 


182  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

which  are  carefully  interwoven,  and  the  leaves  form  a 
natural  carpet.  The  birds  of  the  air  sing  amid  the 
the  green  leaves,  and  are  not  disturbed  by  the  people 
that  sit  at  the  artificially  formed  windows. 

More  elegant  than  the  oak  of  Allouville  which  we 
have  already  described,  this  sycamore  does  not  ap- 
pear to  belong  to  the  same  category.  It  is  only  men- 
tioned here  as  a  type  of  the  trees  manipulated  by  art, 
with  which  gardeners  decorate  country  houses. 

THE    TALLEST   TREES. 

In  closing  our  description  of  the  most  remarkable 
specimens  of  the  largest  trees  in  nature,  we  have  to 
mention  in  the  first  place  the  dragon-tree  of  Orotava. 

"  This  colossal  dragon-tree,"  says  the  author  of  the 
Tableaux  de  la  Nature,  "  is  found  in  the  garden  of  M. 
Franqui,  in  the  little  town  of  Orotava,  one  of  the  most 
pleasant  places  in  the  world.  When  we  climbed  the 
Peak  of  Tenerifte,  in  1799,  we  found  that  the  circum- 
ference of  this  tree  was  about  45  feet  some  little  dis- 
tance above  the  ground.  At  the  top  it  was  nearly 
80  feet,  which,  considering  its  girth  at  the  surface  of 
the  soil,  is  not  a  little  surprising.  Tradition  states 
that  among  the  Gouanches  this  tree  was  an  object  of 
veneration,  as  the  olive  was  among  the  Athenians, 
the  plane  among  the  Lydians,  and  the  banana  among 
the  inhabitants  of  Ceylon." 

In  the  year  1402  the  dragon-tree  of  Orotava  was 
accurately  measured  by  the  companions  of  Bethen- 
court,  at  the  time  when  they  discovered  the  island,  and 
it  was  then  as  large  and  also  as  hollow  as  it  is  to-day 


TUB   DRAGON  TREE. 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.          185 

From  this  statement  we  might  form  a  guess  as  to  the 
age  of  this  famous  tree,  remembering  at  the  same  time 
how  slowly  it  grows.  Berthelot  says,  in  comparing  the 
young  dragon-trees  in  the  neighborhood  with  this  gi- 
ant :  "  The  calculation  which  we  make  as  to  the  age 
of  the  latter  inflame  the  imagination." 

The  dragon-tree  has  been  cultivated  from  the  re- 
motest times,  in  the  Canaries,  Madeira,  in  Porto-Santa ; 
and  a  very  careful  botanist,  Leopold  Yon  Buch,  has  seen 
it  growing  wild  in  the  island  of  Teneriffe ;  it  is  not, 
therefore,  as  people  have  for  a  long  time  believed,  a 
native  of  the  East  Indies.  It  is  found  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  on  the  Isle  de  Bourbon,  in  China  and  in 
New  Zealand.  Different  varieties  of  this  tree  are 
found  in  these  remote  countries ;  but  it  does  not  exist 
at  all  in  the  New  World.  Aiton's  Dracaena  of  the 
north  is  nothing  more  than  a  Convallaria.  Borda 
measured  the  dragon-tree  of  the  Yilla  Franqui  in 
1771.  It  is  said  that  in  the  fifteenth  century,  soon 
after  the  Spanish  conquest,  mass  was  celebrated  on  a 
little  altar  that  had  been  erected  in  the  hollow  of  its 
trunk.* 

The  monumental  character  of  these  plants,  and  the 
degree  of  respect  with  which  they  are  regarded,  have 
made  naturalists  curious  to  ascertain  their  age  and  to 
measure  more  exactly  their  dimensions.  De  Candolle, 
linger,  and  other  distinguished  botanists,  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  state  that  many  dragon-trees  now  existing  date 
back  to  the  earliest  periods  of  our  history,  to  a  time, 

*  Unfortunately,  this  famous  tree  was  completely  destroyed 
by  a  hurricane  in  the  autumn  of  1837. 


186          THE  WON  DEES   OF  VEGETATION. 

in  fact,  when  even  the  history  of  Greece  and  of  Italy 
was  but  just  beginning.  The  sterility  of  these  plants 
is  one  cause  of  their  longevity. 

By  the  side  of  the  dragon-trees,  which  in  spite  of 
their  enormous  dimensions  belong,  strictly  speaking, 
to  the  same  class  as  our  asparagus,  may  be  placed  the 
Adansonias  or  baobabs,  which  are  certainly  among  the 
largest  and  oldest  inhabitants  of  our  planet.  The 
earliest  description  of  these  trees  is  dated  1454,  and 
was  written  by  a  Venetian,  Louis  Cadamosto.  He 
found  at  the  mouth  of  the  Senegal  a  number  of  these 
trees,  the  circumference  of  which  was  about  100  feet. 
Perrotet  says  he  saw  baobabs  over  30  feet  in  diam- 
eter. 

Among  the  regions  remarkable  for  their  vegetable 
products  we  must,  in  passing,  mention  the  Island  of 
Tahiti — the  Queen  of  Oceanica. 

Without  fully  adopting  the  opinion  of  Bougain- 
ville as  to  the  magnificence  of  this  island,  and  with- 
out painting  the  inhabitants  in  the  glowing  colors 
used  by  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  we  must  repeat 
what  has  been  so  often  stated,  that  for  wonderful  veg- 
etation the  South  Seas  are  the  most  astonishing.  The 
natural  productions  seen  in  the  islands  of  this  region 
make  it  the  most  famous  in  the  world. 

In  Tahiti  especially,  the  vegetable  kingdom  shows 
the  greatest  perfection.  "  All  along  the  coast,"  says 
Prat,  "grow  in  abundance  the  Artocarpus  incisa, 
Forester's  Pine,  the  banana,  the  cocoa-nut,  the  Spon- 
dius  Cytherea,  the  Pa/ndcmus  adoratissimus,  the 
paper-mulberry  and  others.  In  the  interior  of  the 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          187 

island  grow  mimosas,  gigantic  bamboos  and  palms. 
On  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  grow  in  rare  perfec- 
tion those  huge  tree-ferns,  so  much  sought  after  by 
botanists.  The  greater  part  of  our  European  veg- 
etables have  succeeded  there — even  the  culture  of  the 
vine  has  been  attempted  and  grapes  have  been  pro- 
duced. Vanilla  grows  in  perfection,  and  coffee  and 
the  sugar-cane  nourish  so  well  that  their  export  is 
one  of  the  chief  commercial  features,  although  in  at- 
tempting to  raise  these  plants  three  serious  difficulties 
arise :  the  indolence  of  the  natives,  the  excessive 
price  of  labor,  and  a  weed,  called  goyavier  (guava- 
tree),  the  roots  of  which  are  found  everywhere.  E~or 
ought  we  to  omit  mentioning  among  these  remarkable 
trees  peculiar  to  certain  portions  of  our  globe,  the 
mangroves,  natives  of  Tropical  America  and  India. 
Long  looked  upon  as  strange  hybrids,  half  tree,  half 
fish,  living  half  plunged  in  the  sea  or  the  lagoons 
near  the  coast,  these  trees  (Rliizopliora  gymnorrhisa) 
send  down  little  rootlets  from  their  branches,  all  ready 
to  start  a  new  growth  as  soon  as  they  sink  into  the 
mud  which  surrounds  the  mother  plant.  Thus  they 
form  a  new  family  group  around  the  parent  stem  and 
soon  spread  out  into  a  vast,  almost  impenetrable  for- 
est, full  of  mysterious  awe  and  exhaling  a  deadly 
miasma. 

The  highest  trees  in  the  world  are  to  be  seen  in 
Van  Dieman's  Land.  They  are  called  in  Australia 
marsh-gum  trees,  divided  into  red,  white  and  spotted 
gums  ;  they  belong  to  the  genus  Eucalyptus,  repre- 
sented in  our  country  by  the  evergreen  myrtle.  The 


188  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

dimensions  of  one  of  these  trees  are  as  follows  :  height, 
300  feet  (200  feet  from  the  root  to  the  first  branch) ; 
diameter  at  the  base,  28  feet.  The  wood  is  so  hard 
that  it  cannot  be  worked  with  ordinary  tools,  and 
nails  cannot  be  driven  into  it. 

Another  gum-tree  was  95  feet  in  circumference, 
and  three  feet  above  the  soil  it  would  take  20  men 
to  encircle  it  with  outstretched  arms. 

The  quantity  of  wood  yielded  by  one  of  these 
trees  is  marvellous.  The  first  we  have  mentioned 
weighed  not  less  than  1,540,758  Ibs. 

These  trees  are  the  colossi  of  the  vegetable 
world.  They  are  to  the  oak  and  linden  as  the 
whale  is  to  the  elephant  or  the  hippopotamus.  They 
owe  their  peculiar  name  to  the  enormous  size  of  their 
crowns,  which  are  covered  with  dense  green  foliage. 
This  variety  of  balsamic  vegetable  yields  a  highly  es- 
teemed oil  in  immense  quantities,  a  gum  which  is 
sometimes  eatable,  and  excellent  wood  for  dyes  as  well 
as  for  cabinet  work.  Even  among  the  Eucalyptus 
there  is  one  species  so  large  that  it  has  obtained  the 
special  epithet  of  the  gigantic  (Eucalyptus  gigantea}. 
They  passed  for  the  tallest  in  the  world  until  recent 
investigations  in  California  resulted  in  the  discovery 
of  trees  still  taller.  Even  the  baobabs  of  which  we 
have  spoken  are  exceeded  in  size  by  these  California 
monsters. 

Of  late  the  Eucalypti  have  furnished  various  ar- 
ticles of  commerce  and  become  highly  valuable.  Their 
hard  wood  serves  for  furniture,  their  twigs  for  walk- 
ing sticks,  of  which  thousands  are  annually  imported 


PITCHER-PLANT 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          191 

from  Algeria.  But  the  most  touching  service  they 
render  comes  from  their  fragrant  leaves.  During  the 
Franco-German  war  they  were  largely  used  in  hospi- 
tals instead  of  lint,  their  balsamic  nature  not  only 
curing  wounds,  but  after  a  few  hours  causing  all  un- 
pleasant odors  to  cease. 

THE    GIANT   TREES    OF    CALIFORNIA. 

California  appears  to  be  the  country  of  the  greatest 
vegetable  wealth,  as  it  is  also  the  land  where  gold 
most  abounds.  It  is  about  15  miles  from  what  was 
once  French  Gulch  that  we  meet  with  the  mammoth 
trees,  which  there  count  up  to  about  ninety  in  number. 
In  other  places,  and  near  the  Yosemite  Valley,  hun- 


Eagle  Wing. 


dreds  have  since  been  discovered.  They  rise  straight 
as  columns  to  the  height  of  about  320  feet,  and 
measure  about  a  hundred  feet  in  the  circumference  of 
their  foliage.  The  first  branches  strike  off  at  about 


192          THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

100  feet  above  the  ground.  They  are  not  numerous, 
but  the  foliage  is  abundant  at  the  top.  One  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  perfect  of  these  trees  was  felled 
in  1855,  and  was  carefully  examined.  From  the  re- 
sults obtained,  it  appears  that  4,000  years  at  least 
must  have  passed  before  it  could  have  attained  the 
proportions  to  which  it  had  grown.  Among  the 
trees  felled  at  this  time  one,  a  giant  among  giants, 
was  found  to  be  450  feet  high — higher  than  any  ca- 
thedral or  monument  in  the  world — and  120  feet  in 
circumference.  In  falling,  this  giant  broke  at  300 
feet  from  the  base,  and  even  here  it  measured  18  feet 
in  diameter. 

The  forest  in  which  these  giants  grow  is  called 
Mammoth  Grove.  It  is  situated  in  a  little  valley  near 
the  source  of  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  river  Cal- 
averas.  The  valley  which  produces  these  trees  con- 
tains nearly  300  acres  of  ground,  and  lies  about  4,000 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  During  the  summer 
the  climate  is  delicious  here,  free  from  the  choking 
heat  of  the  lower  plains.  The  vegetation  is  always 
fresh  and  green,  while  the  water,  as  pure  as  crystal,  is 
almost  as  cold  as  ice.  The  respective  positions  of 
these  trees  has  led  to  their  receiving  different  names. 
Of  these  the  chief  are  the  Man  and  the  Woman,  because 
these  two  stand  together ;  Hercules,  a  felled  tree 
which  yielded  72,500  feet  of  timber  ;  the  Hermit,  so 
named  because  of  its  isolated  position ;  the  Mother 
and  the  Son,  etc.  These  trees  have  all  a  circumference 
of  from  55  to  60  feet,  and  the  height  is  in  no  case  less 
than  300  feet. 


GIANT  TREES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 


195 


Several  of  these  trees  are  1,-iOOor  1,500  years  old. 
One  of  them  that  was  felled  was  so  large  that  when 
its  bark  was  transported .  to  San  Francisco,  where  it. 
was  put  together  again  to  be  carried  to  Europe,  it 
was  large  enough  to  accommodate  a  numerous  com- 


Fallen  Monarch. 

pany,  who  put  a  piano  inside,  while  twenty  persons 
were  dancing  on  the  floor,  and  fifty  occupied  seats  to 
witness  the  strange  ball.  The  bark  of  one  of  these 
giant  trees  was  transported  to  London  in  parts,  the 
parts  were  set  together  again  at  the  Crystal  Palace, 


196  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

and  kept  there  till  a  few  years  ago  a  disastrous  fire 
destroyed  the  wing  in  which  they  had  been  placed. 
Our  illustration  represents  the  largest  of  this  class  of 
trees,  which  have  been  called  the  "  Fathers  of  the 
Forest."  "  This  tree,  also  known  under  the  name  of 
the  mammoth  tree,  was  found,"  says  the  botanist 
Muller,  "  by  Lobb,  upon  the  Sierra  Nevada,  at  a 
height  of  5,000  feet  above  the  sea  level,  near  the 
sources  of  the  Stanislaus  and  St.  Anthony  rivers.  It 
belongs  to  the  family  of  the  coniferse,  and  reaches  an 
average  height  of  from  250  to  300  feet.  Recent  ob- 
servations, however,  inform  us  that  it  may  attain  a 
height  of  400  feet  and  upwards.  The  diameter  of 
its  trunk  at  its  base  is  from  12  to  31  feet.  The  bark, 
which  is  18  inches  thick,  is  of  the  color  of  cinnamon, 
and  has  on  the  inside  a  fibrous  texture,  while  the 
wood  of  the  stem  is  reddish  in  color,  but  is  soft  and 
bright."  This  reminds  us  that  the  wood  of  the  bao- 
bab also  is  by  no  means  very  hard,  although  it  is  one 
of  the  most  ancient  trees  in  the  world.  'About  ninety 
of  these  immense  pines  are  to  be  seen  within  a  circuit 
of  one  mile.  Usually  they  are  grouped  in  twos  and 
threes  upon  a  black  soil  well  watered.  Even  the  anx- 
ious gold  seekers  have  not  been  able  to  look  upon 
them  with  indifference,  and  have  called  one  of  them 
the  "  Miner's  Cabin."  The  stem  of  this  tree  is  300 
feet  high,  and  in  it  an  excavation  has  been  made  17 
feet  wide.  The  "  Three  Sisters "  are  a  separate 
growth  from  one  and  the  same  root.  The  "  Family  " 
consists  of  two  old  and  twenty-four  young  trees. 
The  "  Riding  School "  is  a  great  tree  hollowed  out 


THE  FATHER   OF   THE   FOREST. 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          199 

by  time,  the  cavity  of  which  may  be  entered  on 
horseback  without  inconvenience.  It  is  astonishing 
that  vegetable  wonders  like  these  should  have  re- 
mained unknown  for  so  long  a  time ;  the  fact  might 


Pioneer  Cabin. 


warrant  us  in  supposing  that  even  more  gigantic 
trees  may  yet  be  discovered  by  men  like  Livingstone, 
and  his  fearless  brethren,  in  all  parts  of  the  globe. 
We  give  in  our  illustration  one  of  these  gigantic 


200  THE  WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

cedars  ( Wellingtonia  gigantea\  which  was  long  con- 
sidered the  largest  of  large  trees  on  earth. 

It  is  a  matter  of  extraordinary  interest  that  these 
giant  pines  of  California,  which  were  regarded  with 
awe  by  the  aborigines,  have  caused  one  of  the  few 
superstitious  to  crop  up  which  are  found  among  Amer- 
icans. The  gold  miners  of  that  region,  we  are 
told,  sometimes  tip  a  cone  with  the  first  gold  they 
find,  and  preserve  and  sometimes  even  wear  it  on 
their  person  as  an  ornament,  hoping  that  it  will  bring 
them  luck.  The  curious  belief  has  probably  been  im 
ported  by  some  of  the  German  miners,  in  whose 
homes  superstitions  connected  with  fir  and  pine  are  as 
abundant  as  the  crop  of  pine  cones  themselves. 

THE  MANDRAGORA  OR  MANDRAKE. 

Country  people  can  still  recall  the  fright  which  the 
simple  name  of  this  plant  used  to  produce  among 
our  ancestors.  It  was  a  vegetable,  but  seemed  also, 


The  Mandrake 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.          201 

by  some  mysterious  association,  to  be  something  of  a 
human  being ;  and  the  works  written  on  magic  in  the 
middle  ages,  numerous  and  implicitly  believed  as  they 
were,  ascribed  to  it  a  supernatural  power.  Pliny  men- 
tions it  fully,  though  Theophrastes  calls  it  first  An- 
thropomorphosis  /  Columella  speaks  of  it  as  the  "  half 
man  (semi-homo)',  Eldal  as  the  "  man-headed-tree,"  and 
popular  traditions  all  over  the  world,  as  the  "  little-man 
tree,"  etc.  Its  root  is  certainly  a  striking  likeness  of 
a  headless  man  walking  rapidly  on  footless  stumps  ; 
indeed,  much  more  like  a  man  than  any  thing  the  an- 
cient Mexicans  have  graven  on  their  monuments,  or 
our  Indians  write  upon  the  leaves  of  their  birch-bark 
mystery  books.  It  was  a  principal  ingredient  in  the 
composition  of  philtres,  potions,  and  "charms  intended 
for  evil  purposes,  and  to  cure  barrenness.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  Septuaginta  gave  the  name  of  man- 
drake to  the  plant  dudaim,  found  by  Reuben  (Gene- 
sis, ch.  xxx.),  while  Luther  arbitrarily  changed  it  into 
simple  "lilies." 

The  man  who  found  the  precious  root  was  deemed 
happy,  since  it  gave  him  power  to  excite  love  where- 
ever  he  chose,  and  exercised  a  divine  influence  upon 
his  destinies ;  but  its  extraction-was  protected  by  weird, 
magic  forms.  When  the  little  man-plant  was  up- 
rooted, it  gave  forth  groans  ;  it  had  to  be  gathered 
under  a  gibbet,  observing  particular  rites,  and  even 
when  gathered  according  to  rule,  displayed  its  won- 
derful powers  only  under  certain  conditions.  The 
best  method,  Josephurahead  teaches,  was  to  get  a  dog 
to  uproot  it,  who  paid  with  his  life  for  his  boldness ; 


202          THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

and  then  carefully  wrap  it  in  a  winding  sheet.  Mar- 
vellous virtues  were  ascribed  to  it,  not  the  least  of 
which  were,  that  it  doubled  the  prices  of  money 
around  which  it  was  wrapped  ;  while  the  Arabs  still 
call  it  the  "  DemVs  apple"  from  its  power  to  excite 
voluptuous  feeling. 

This  plant  belongs  to  the  family  of  the  Solonce, 
and  its  scientific  name  is  Atropa  mandragora. 
tit  is  a  poisonous  plant,  and  grows  in  dark  wood  by 
river  banks ;  and  in  those  mysterious  localities  not- 
often  visited  by  the  rays  of  the  sun.  The  root  is 
thick  and  long,  whitish  in  color,  and  generally  forked 
like  the  legs  of  a  man.  Oval  leaves  crown  the 
root  and  spread  all  around,  hanging  downwards. 
Its  white  flowers  are  tinged  with  purple ;  its  fruit, 
which  resembles  a  small  apple,  has,  like  the  whole 
plant,  a  fetid  odor.  It  is  principally  the  bifurca- 
tion of  the  root  which  makes  the  plant  look  a  little 
like  a  human  body.  Another  plant  used  for  the  same 
purpose,  as  mentioned  by  Schleiden,  is  a  bulb  (Alr 
lium  victoriaUs,  to  which  similar  powers  are  as- 
cribed. 

In  the  same  class  with  the  mandragora,  we  must 
mention  the  ginseng  of  Tartary,  discovered  in  1616, 
by  Father  Lah'tau,  and  presented  by  him  to  the 
Duke  of  Orleans — the  Regent  of  France.  He  relates 
his  discovery  in  the  following  words  : 

"  Having  spent  nearly  three  months  in  vain  search 
for  the  ginseng,  chance  showed  it  me  when  I  least 
expected  to  find  it.  It  was  then  in  its  maturity,  and 
the  red  color  of  its  fruit  attracted  my  attention.  I  at 


THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          205 

once  suspected  that  this  must  be  the  plant  I  was  look- 
ing for.  Having  carefully  uprooted  it,  I  carried  it 
full  of  joy  to  a  native  woman  whom  I  had  employed 
in  searching  for  it  elsewhere.  She  recognized  it  at 
once  as  one  of  the  simple  remedies  made  use  of  in  the 
country,  and  explained  to  me  on  the  spot  its  nature. 
When  I  told  her  of  the  use  made  of  this  plant  in  Chi- 
na, this  woman  cured  herself  on  the  following  day  of 
an  intermittent  fever  that  had  plagued  her  for  several 
months.  The  preparation  was  simply  a  drink  of  the 
cold  water,  in  which  a  few  roots  of  the  plant  had  been 
steeped  after  having  been  previously  bruised  between 
two  stones.  She  resorted  twice  again  to  this  remedy 
for  the  same  complaint,  and  on  each  occasion  she  was 
cured  within  twenty-four  hours. 

"  My  surprise  was  great  when,  upon  hearing  that 
the  Chinese  name  meant  Likeness  to  Man,  or,  as  the 
translator  of  Father  Kircher's  work  states  it — men's 
legs,  I  found  that  the  Iroquois  word  garentoguen  had 
the  same  meaning !  It  signifies  the  two  thighed,  and 
is  by  the  Indians  applied  to  the  ginseng,  the  plant 
which  I  had  discovered  in  Canada  and  then  again 
known  in  China.  Reflecting  on  the  uncommonness 
of  the  name,  which  seemed  to  rest  entirely  on  the 
very  imperfect  ^likeness  to  the  human  body  borne 
only  occasionally  by  a  few  plants  of  this  family  while 
it  is  met  with  in  other  plants  of  quite  different  spe- 
cies, I  could  not  convince  myself  that  the  same  word 
should  have  been  applied  to  the  same  thing  in  China 
and  in  Canada  without  some  interchange  of  ideas 
and  without  direct  communication.  Thus  I  was  con- 


206  THE   WONDERS    OF  VEGETATION. 

firmed  in  the  opinion  I  had  long  entertained,  that 
America  had  once  been  one  and  the  same  continent 
with  Asia,  and  that  it  was  then  united  to  Tartar y  to 
the  north  of  China." 

When  I  had  discovered  the  ginseng  it  occurred  to 
me  that  it  might  be  a  variety  of  mandragora,  and  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  that  in  this  I  was  borne 
out  by  Father  Martini,  who  says ;  "  I  cannot  better 
describe  this  root  than  by  saying  that  it  is  very  like 
our  mandragora,  though  a  little  smaller.  It  may  be 
one  of  the  species  of  that  plant.  For  myself,  I  have 
not  the  slightest  doubt  that  it  has  all  the  qualities  and 
the  same  virtues  as  that  plant.  In  shape  the  two 
plants  are  alike." 

If  Father  Martini  was  right  in  calling  the  gin- 
seng a  variety  of  mandragora  because  of  its  shape,  he 
was  entirely  wrong  in  calling  it  so  on  account  of  its 
properties.  The  European  mandragora  is  narcotic, 
cooling  and  stupefying.  These  qualities  are  not  at 
all  found  united  in  ginseng,  yet  Father  Martini's  ideas 
made  me  pursue  my  researches  still  further.  I  soon 
found  out  that  the  mandragora  of  to-day  is  not  the 
plant  so  called  by  the  ancients ;  and  I  believe  that  in 
examining  the  matter  more  closely  and  comparing 
ginseng  with  what  the  ancients  called  mandragora, 
we  should  find  that  the  plant  I  discovered  in  Canada 
was  the  actual  anthropomorphos  of  Pythagoras  and 
the  mandragora  of  Theophrastes. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  how  the  mandragora  of  the 
ancients  has  been  lost.  In  the  first  place  it  must 
have  been  in  great  demand  in  early  times  on  account 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.          207 

of  its  singular  properties  so  highly  esteemed  by  the 
ancients.  Secondly,  the  difficulty  that  this  plant  has 
in  multiplying  itself  would  always  make  it  rare. 
The  roots  would  be  constantly  pulled  out  before  the 
plants  had  come  to  maturity,  and  thus  all  chance  of 
propagation  would  be  destroyed. 

The  mandragora  of  the  ancients  being  lost,  noth- 
ing was  more  likely  than  that  another  plant  should  be 
substituted  for  it,  which  had  similar  properties.  Our 
mandragoras  have  roots  which  bear  some  resemblance 
to  the  human  body,  from  the  waist  downwards ;  the 
seeds  are  white,  and  have  the  appearance  of  small  kid- 
neys ;  and  all  these  features  are  equally  characteristic 
of  the  ginseng. 

It  need  hardly  be  added  that  the  reverend  father's 
supposition  has  not  been  maintained  by  modern  inves- 
tigations. The  ginseng  of  China,  found  abundantly 
in  the  Middle  States  of  the  Union,  and  largely  ex- 
ported to  the  flowery  kingdom,  is  an  araliacious  plant 
belonging  to  the  same  class  as  our  ivy.  It  is  known 
to  botanists  by  the  name  of  Panax  Schinseng.  The 
plant  found  in  Canada  is  an  allied  species  (Pcmax 
quinquefolium\  having  a  root  like  the  ginseng  of 
China.  It  is  exported  to  China  and  highly  valued 
there  for  its  properties,  which  are  however  as  fabulous 
as  those  ascribed  to  the  European  mandrake.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  atropa  mcmdragora  is  the 
plant  of  the  ancient  Greek  writers. 


Nympheacse. 


SECOND  PART. 
CHAPTER  I. 

FLOWERS: 

A  N  attempt  to  describe  marvellous  flowers  would 
•~^-  involve  a  description  of  the  entire  flora  of  the 
globe ;  for,  in  truth,  whatever  its  form,  its  size,  its  color 
may  be,  every  flower  is  in  itself  a  marvel  of  one  kind  or 
another.  In  order  to  follow  some  practical  plan,  we 
must  first  make  a  few  general  observations  by  way  of 
explaining  the  plan  we  mean  to  follow,  and  afterwards 
we  may  choose  some  special  types  best  suited  to  bring 
out  into  relief  certain  special  features  of  the  floral 
world. 

The  earth  is  a  large  garden  sown  with  flowers, 
which  add  a  singular  charm  to  the  domain  that  has 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

been  given  to  man.  In  their  succession  throughout 
the  year  they  provide  for  us  a  continuous  festival  with 
ever-varying  decorations  that  follow  each  other  in 
regular  order.  First  come  cowslips  with  us,  snow- 
drops in  Europe,  long  before  the  trees  dare  to  put 
forth  their  leaves.  Then  comes  the  crocus,  timidly 
peeping  forth  because  it  has  but  little  strength  to  re- 
sist the  strong  winds  ;  and  with  it  comes  the  violet, 
loved  by  all,  and  the  bright  primrose.  These  and  a 
number  of  wild  flowers  form  the  advanced  guard  of 
the  army  of  flowers,  and  their  appearance,  attractive 
in  itself,  is  all  the  more  delightful  because  it  announces 
to  us  the  approach  of  a  vast  multitude  of  beautiful 
companions. 

After  these  the  children  of  nature  appear  in  regu- 
lar order  and  each  month  brings  with  it  its  own 
proper  decorations.  The  tulip  begins  to  show  its 
leaves  and  flowers ;  soon  the  beautiful  anemone  will 
spread  out  its  purple-streaked  petals ;  and  the  ranun- 
culus display  its  magnificence,  charming  the  eye  with 
its  harmoniously  disposed  colors.  The  crown  impe- 
rial and  narcissus,  lilac  and  lilies  of  the  valley,  iris 
and  jonquilles,  decorate  the  flower  bed.  At  the  same 
time  the  fruit-trees  mingle  their  soft  colors  with  the 
fresh,  bright  green  of  the  early  grass  ;  and  heighten 
by  contrast  the  beauty  of  our  gardens. 

At  the  same  time  the  rose  begins  to  show  its 
lea\  es  and  early  buds,  soon  to  claim  the  position  of 
queen  in  the  w^orld  of  flowers.  No  one  can  resist  the 
charms  which  it  unfolds  to  view.  The  heart  must  be 
stony  that  can  remain  without  emotion  at  the  siht  of 


v>{"          THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 

a  rose  half  opened  in  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun ; 
glittering  with  dew-drops ;  and  swaying  gently  upon 
its  slender  branch  as  it  is  rocked  to  and  fro  by  the 
morning  breeze ! 

Autumn  in  its  turn  brings  its  balsams  and  sun- 
flowers, its  tube-roses  and  chrysanthemums,  its  rich 
carnations  and  brilliant  colchicums,  and  a  hundred 
other  varieties.  Thus  the  glorious  display  continues 
without  interruption.  Then  comes  sad  winter  with 
its  frosts,  covering  nature  with  a  robe  of  snow,  and 
hiding  it  for  a  time  from  our  sight ;  but  while  making 
us  long  for  the  returning  verdure  of  spring,  it  is  busy 
with  those  processes  of  regeneration  under  ground 
without  which  there  could  be  no  floral  display  in 
summer. 

Let  us  pause  here,  and  with  Louis  Cousin,  reflect 
upon  the  wisdom  and  goodness  shown  by  this  varied 
succession  of  flowers. 

How  beautiful  their  combination  of  colors !  How 
diversified  and  how  harmoniously  are  they  blended ! 
What  wonderful  skill  in  the  arrangement  of  these 
tints !  There,  the  colors  seem  to  have  been  put  on 
with  a  delicate  hand ;  here  they  are  mingled  accord- 
ing to  the  most  learned  rules  of  art.  The  color  of  the 
background  appears  always  to  be  chosen  in  such  a  way 
as  to  bring  out  the  drawings  traced  upon  it,  so  that 
the  green,  which  surrounds  the  flower,  or  the  shadow, 
which  the  leaves  throw  down,  serves  still  further  to 
give  new  life  to  the  whole. 

"  In  the  flower,"  writes  Pouchet,  "  this  glorious  and 
supreme  effort  of  vegetable  life,  the  poetic  imagination 


THE    WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION.  :»[j 

of  Linnseus  beheld  only  the  picture  of  a  chaste  mar- 
riage. Plants  which  are  ornamented  with  visible 
ilowers  exhibit  an  endless  variety  of  size,  form,  color- 
ing, and  perfume.  While  some,  such  as  the  valerians, 
bear  such  tiny  corollas  that  we  can  scarcely  make  them 
out,  the  lilies  and  irises  exhibit  grand  and  sumptuous 
structures  of  this  class,  which  rivet  every  person's  atten- 
tion ;  and  yet  some  exotic  plants  leave  them  far  behind 
in  this  respect. 

The  flower  of  one  Aristolochia,  which  grows  on 
the  banks  of  the  Magdalena,  presents  the  appearance 
of  a  casque  with  great  edges.  The  opening  of  it  is  so 
large  that  it  will  admit  the  head  of  a  man  ;  and  Hum-' 
boldt  relates  that,  when  travelling  along  by  this  river, 
he  sometimes  encountered  savages  wearing  this  flower 
on  their  heads  like  a  hat. 

But  it  is  on  the  surface  of  rivers  that  the  pomp  of 
vegetation  is  displayed.  Nature  nowhere  shows 
another  flower  which  for  size,  united  to  coloring,  can 
be  compared  to  those  of  the  Nympheae  and  the  Ne- 
lumbia.  By  gentle  gradation  they  pass  from  the 
purest  white  to  the  most  velvety  red  or  the  most 
delicate  blue !  In  every  age  the  magnificent  plants 
have  attracted  man's  attention  and  been  the  object  of 
his  admiration.  Art  has  made  a  splendid  use  of  them ; 
and  to  them  the  ancient  myths  owe  some  of  their 
most  delicate  and  beautiful  conceptions. 

They  play  a  great  part  in  mythology  and  on  Egyp- 
tian monuments.  The  colonnades  of  Thebes  and 
Philoe,  which  seem  to  defy  the  hand  of  time,  are 
crowned  with  capitals  representing  flowers  of  the 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

Nymphese  in  full  bloom,  with  which  the  sculptors  of 
the  Pharaohs  have  sometimes  intermingled  bunches 
of  dates. 

There  is  no  Egyptian  monument  on  which  Iris 
is  not  represented  surrounded  by  the  lotus,  or  holding 
bouquets  of  it  in  her  hand.  This  flower  was  the  in- 
dispensable ornament  of  the  immortal  goddess.  In 
the  Hindoo  temples  it  also  serves  as  a  seat  for  Bramah, 
who  is  represented  sitting  and  holding  in  his  hands 
the  sacred  Yedas. 

Poetry  has  exhausted  all  its  resources  in  telling  of 
the  perfume  and  color  of  flowers.  Nature  has  sur- 
passed art,  and  the  pencil  of  Apelles  and  Reubens 
could  not  reproduce  them  in  all  their  magnificence. 
And  yet  one  color,  black,  is  wanting  amid  this  multi- 
tude of  varied  tints.  Some  corollas,  such  as  those  of 
certain  Scabiosse,  are,  it  is  true,  of  a  sombre  purple, 
but  a  perfect  black  is  never  seen  in  this  organ. 

One  phenomenon  occurs  in  respect  to  the  coloring 
of  flowers  which  has  been  a  good  deal  talked  about ; 
it  is  the  mutability  of  it.  Pallas,  when  exploring  the 
banks  of  the  Yolga,  remarked  with  astonishment  that 
a  species  of  anemone,  the  anemone  patens,  sometimes 
bore  white  flowers,  sometimes  yellow,  and  sometimes 
red  flowers.  This  phenomenon,  still  unexplained, 
appeared  so  abnormal  that  it  was  mentioned  every- 
where. It  is,  however,  common  enough ;  and  we  may 
observe  it  any  time  in  France  without  encountering 
such  a  long  journey. 

The  field  pimpernel  (Anagallis  arvensis),  so  com- 
mon in  our  country  districts,  frequently  displays  this 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          213 

change.  Usually  its  flower  is  of  a  vermilion  red,  but 
it  is  also  sometimes  of  a  magnificent  sky  blue,  which 
made  some  botanists  think  they  were  two  different 
species. 

A  pretty  little  plant  of  the  genus  Myosotis,  which 
is  met  with  in  our  arid  grounds,  varies  still  more  sin- 
gularly in  its  color,  for  on  the  same  stalk  we  find  at 
the  same  time  red,  yellow,  and  blue  flowers — a  peculi- 
arity to  which  this  species  owes  the  name  of  Myoso- 
tis diversicolor  which  has  been  given  it. 

Other  plants  display  a  still  more  remarkable  phe- 
nomenon, for  in  them  the  same  flower  changes  its 
colors  at  different  hours  of  the  day.  This  happens 
with  the  Hibiscus  mutdbiliS)  the  corollas  of  which  are 
white  in  the  morning,  become  rose-colored  towards  the 
middle  of  the  day,  and  in  the  evening  take  on  a  beau- 
tiful red  tint. 

The  successive  change  in  the  tints  of  the  corolla 
is  easily  conceived ;  it  may  depend  on  vital  action  or 
on  chemical  reactions  affected  by  time ;  but  what  is 
much  more  difficult  to  explain  is,  that  flowers  having 
displayed  a  certain  category  of  changes  during  the 
day,  go  through  the  same  round  of  variation  the  day 
following.  This  is  observed  in  the  variously  colored 
corn-flag  (Gladiolus  versicolor  Linn.\  the  corolla  of 
which,  brown  in  the  morning,  becomes  blue  in  the 
evening,  and  on  the  day  following  takes  on  again  ex- 
actly the  same  succession  of  tints  as  it  showed  the  day 
before.  What  a  variety  of  perfumes  the  flower  pos- 
sesses !  And  yet  notwithstanding  their  thousand  and 
one  shades  of  difference,  those  whose  sense  of  smell 


THE    WONDEKX    or 

is  sharpened  by  practice  can  distinguish  that  of  each 
species. 

It  is  even  stated  in  some  works  that  a  young 
American  who  had  become  absolutely  blind,  botan- 
ized, guided  by  the  smell  only,  in  the  midst  of  prairies 
enamelled  with  luxuriant  vegetation,  and  never  com- 
mitted any  mistake  in  his  Meanings. 


Orchids. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

ORCHIDS    OR    AIR-PLANTS. 

IT  is  not  to  the  caprices  of  amateurs  alone  that  or- 
chids owe  their  celebrity  ;  they  justify  the  predilec- 
tion with  which  they  are  regarded  by  their  beauty 
and  their  singularity,  and  even  by  the  difficulties  which 
explorers  have  had  to  overcome  in  order  to  bring  them 
home  from  their  intertropical  forests,  and  by  the  care 
and  skill  which  horticulturists  have  had  to  employ  in 
acclimatizing  them  in  northern  climates. 

In  first  speaking  of  their  beauty  and  their  singu- 
larity, we  find  that  these  remarkable  plants  have  cer- 
tain features  utterly  unlike  those  of  all  other  plants. 
They  live  as  parasites,  either  on  the  bark  of  large 


t>lO  THE   WONDERS    OF  VEGETATION. 

trees  in  equatorial  forests — in  which  case  they  are 
called  epiphytes — or  upon  the  soil,  in  which  case  they 
are  called  terrestrial  orchids.  The  first,  by  far  the 
most  numerous,  hang  from  the  shady  vaults  of  trop- 
ical forests  like  graceful  garlands  of  incomparable  rich- 
ness. 

Here  we  are  told  they  had  adorned  the  brow  of 
royal  Indian  maidens,  flourished  in  the  palaces  and 
perfumed  the  luxurious  air  of  Peruvian  courts ;  they 
were  the  love-messengers  of  noble  Mexican  youths ; 
they  lay,  a  mournful  tribute  of  affection,  on  the  grave 
of  a  departed  friend,  and  hung  their  fantastic  garlands 
along  the  gold-glowing  walls  of  Mexican  temples. 

"  Under  the  tropics,"  says  Humboldt,  "  the  orchids 
enliven  the  trunks  of  the  trees  which  have  been  black- 
ened by  the  rays  of  the  sun  and  the  cliffs  of  repulsive 
rocks.  The  flowers  of  the  orchids  resemble  sometimes 
winged  insects  and  sometimes  the  birds  which  the 
perfume  of  their  nectaries  attract.  The  life  of  a  paint- 
er would  be  insufficient  to  represent  the  magnificent  or- 
chids that  grow  even  within  a  small  space  in  the  deep 
valleys  of  the  Peruvian  Andes." 

Unlike  any  other  parasites  they  enrich  the  tree  on 
which  they  grow.  Flowers  of  brilliant  colors,  infinite- 
ly diversified,  decorate  the  upper  branches  of  the  trees 
and  give  forth  a  perfume  so  sweet  as  to  become  ener- 
vating. They  grow  downward,  unlike  other  flowers, 
and  seem  to  be  purely  aerial  beings,  the  roots  even 
finding  their  food  in  the  atmosphere  alone.  The  rich- 
ness of  their  colors  and  perfume  is  such  that  not  only 
Europeans  admire  and  appreciate  them,  but  the  pow- 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.  217 

er  of  their  beauty  is  fully  felt  even  by  the  savage  na- 
tives. 

Another  feature  peculiar  to  these  flowers,  and  not 
less  remarkable  is,  that  like  the  country  in  which  they 
grow,  they  do  not  distinguish  the  difference  between 
the  seasons  and  obey  no  regular  law  in  their  flowering. 
They  bloom  apparently  capriciously,  and  consequently 
their  flowers  are  seen  and  their  perfume  felt  all  the 
year  through.  Besides,  their  bloom  lasts  two  or  three 
times  as  long  as  that  of  ordinary  flowers.  The  posses- 
sor of  a  collection  of  orchids  is  thus  certain  to  have  some 
plants  in  bloom  all  the  year  round.  Of  course  they 
have  to  be  kept  in  a  green-house,  the  heat  of  which 
is  uniform  throughout  the  year,  and  even  besides  this 
they  call  for  unremitting,  intelligent,  and  minute  care 
in  a  greater  degree  than  most  plants. 

The  orchid  which  our  illustration  represents  is  an 
acinctum,  a  plant  recently  introduced  into  France, 
and  very  rare  even  in  the  most  richly-furnished  hot- 
houses. The  floral  stem  grows  downwards,  like  that 
of  the  stanhopsea  and  others  ;  the  plant  lives  as  a  par- 
asite upon  trees  and  its  flowers  hang  in  low  garlands 
down  the  trunk. 

These  plants  are  still  so  rare  in  Europe,  and  with  us, 
that  wealthy  collectors  have  been  known  to  pay  fabu- 
lous prices  for  certain  varieties.  It  is  needless  to 
state  that  these  enthusiastic  purchasers  are  mostly  Eng- 
lishmen. Perhaps  the  most  notable  among  them  was 
the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  who  some  years  ago,  when 
visiting  the  collection  of  Mr.  Henderson,  was  greatly 
struck  with  the  beauty  of  one  of  his  orchids.  The  duke 


218  THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

was  accompanied  by  a  young  lady  passionately  fond  of 
flowers,  and  both  were  charmed  beyond  expression  with 
the  orchid.  But  the  collector  could  not  be  prevailed 
upon  to  part  with  it ;  it  was  unique  in  Europe  and 
was  beyond  price.  He  was  not  proof,  however,  against 
the  munificence  of  the  duke,  who  placed  a  pocketbook 
well  filled  with  bank  notes  in  the  hands  of  the  aston- 
ished horticulturist  and  walked  off  in  triumph  with 
his  prize. 

The  terrestrial  orchid  is  a  native  of  Panama,  and 
a  bulbous-looking  plant.  From  the  base  of  the  tree 
a  pale  green,  almost  white,  articulate  flower  spike 
shoots  up  and  rises  to  the  height  of  four  or  five  feet,  the 
upper  portion  forming  a  raceme  of  pure  white,  waxy 
flowers,  sometimes  as  many  as  twenty  in  number. 
Each  flower,  waxy  and  pure  white,  is  nearly  circular, 
about  two  inches  in  diameter,  and  in  the  centre  the 
column  pollen  masses  with  erect  wings  are  so  beauti- 
fully combined  as  to  bear  a  remarkable  resemblance 
to  a  dove  of  purest  wing,  having  the  wings  faintly 
spotted  with  lilac.  In  its  native  land  this  Dove 
Flower,  as  the  English  call  it,  is  known  as  El  Espir- 
itu  Santo,  and  regarded  with  superstitious  reverence  as 
a  religious  symbol  at  which  no  one  who  has  ever  seen 
the  flower  will  feel  the  least  surprise. 

Its  only  rival  is  the  famous  Butterfly  Flower  (Onci- 
drium  papiteo)  from  the  verdant  island  of  Trinidad. 
This  is  an  epiphyte  or  true  air-plant,  growing  on  the 
trunks  or  branches  of  trees,  to  which  it  attaches  itself 
with  great  firmness  by  a  network  of  fibrous  and  thread- 
like roots,  but  entirely  nourished  by  the  atmosphere. 


THE  WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  219 

The  flowerstalks,  four  feet  long,  support  at  the  end  a 
single  flower,  bearing  a  singular  and  striking  resem- 
blance to  a  butterfly  on  the  wing,  not  only  in  general 
outline,  but  in  some  of  its  details,  both  of  form  and  col- 
or. The  centre  of  the  flower  seems  a  mimicry  of 
the  body  of  the  insect ;  the  sepals,  long,  narrow  and 
slightly  curved,  represent  in  a  wonderful  manner  in 
shape  and  position  the  antennae  of  the  butterfly,  while 
the  petals  represent  the  wings,  and  the  labellum  or  lip 
the  expanded  body  of  the  insect.  The  striking  and 
wonderful  form  of  this  flower,  the  brilliancy  of  its  col- 
or, the  position  at  the  end  of  a  long,  neutral-tinted  elas- 
ic,  wire-like  stem,  when  seen  moving,  we  might  al- 
most say  fluttering,  like  an  insect,  with  every  current 
of  air,  remote  and  apparently  unconnected  with  any 
root  or  bulb,  it  requires  no  very  vigorous  exercise  of 
the  imagination  to  believe  it  to  be  not  a  flower,  but 
a  gayly-colored  butterfly  flitting  among  surrounding 
leaves  and  flowers. 

But  their  number  is  almost  endless ;  there  is  a 
spider-orchis  and  a  bee-orchis,  an  orchis  like  a  fly, 
one  like  a  man,  and  another  like  a  lizard.  One  is  the 
very  image  of  a  swan,  with  arched  nejt  and  gently 
elevated  wings  (Cynoches  ventricosum),  while  another 
(Cabaestum  viride)  opens  a  beautiful  capote,  with 
bows  and  strings  complete,  just  the  thing  for  a  well- 
grown  fairy  on  a  summer's  evening. 

SCKOPHULARIN^E 

This  elegant  flower  is  the  Antirrhinum  graccum, 
and  belongs  to  the  family  of  the  Scrophularineae 


220          THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION 

(what  villainous  names  for  such  pretty  things).  Few 
plants  rival  it  in  beauty  and  airiness.  It  comes  orig- 
inally from  the  Morea,  and  it  seems  almost  to  be  a 
plant  of  the  air,  free  from  the  weight  and  grossness 
of  the  things  of  this  earth.  It  blooms  in  summer,  and 
the  flowers  remain  in  full  beauty  for  several  weeks. 
[The  flowers,  which  are  of  a  bright  yellow,  are  very 
numerous  and  grow  in  bunches,  while  the  leaves,  with 
their  graceful  outlines,  are  alternated,  and  the  steins  are 
'slender  and  beautifully  interlaced  with  each  other. 

To  this  rich  and  varied  order  of  plants  belong  a 
number  of  charming  small  flowers  which  adorn  our 
gardens,  and  some  of  which  are  endowed  with  extraor- 
dinary medical  properties.  Such  are  the  SpudweU 
Veronica,  a  bitter  plant;  the  mullein,  the  hyssqp, 
sharp  and  astringent,  the  fox  glove,  a  poisonous  plant 
of  wThich  only  the  very  smallest  doses  can  be  taken 
with  impunity,  the  cow  wheat,  the  horse- wort,  the  pig- 
wort  and  the  paulownia,  all  of  them  flowers  and  trees 
remarkable  for  their  beauty  and  elegance.  According 
to  their  species  the  flowers  are  either  solitary  and  sep- 
arate or  united  together  in  cymes,  clusters  or  spikes. 

Besides  the  Antirrhinum  graccum  which  we 
have  mentioned,  there  are  other  species  not  less  worthy 
of  interest — these  are  the  wolfs  mouth  (A.  majus\  the 
snap-dragon  (A.  aranteum),  and  the  Antirrhinum  au~ 
gustifolium-y  with  its  long  and  slender  leaves. 


The  Yuccas. 


CHAPTER  III. 

YUCCAS. 

beautiful  plants,  the  palms  of  northern  gar- 
dens, are  now  among  the  number  of  the  choicest 
objects  sought  after  by  connoisseurs  in  horticulture. 
They  are  natives  of  this  continent — well  called  the 
gorgeous  wild  lilies  of  America,  and  have  only  been 
seen  in  Europe  within  late  years.  Among  their 
characteristic  features  are  their  leaves,  which  are  in 
their  way  almost  as  useful  as  those  of  the  papyrus, 
since  they  can  be  used  for  drawing  and  painting,  as 
well  as  paper  itself.  They  are  very  thick,  very  fine 
in  texture  and  velvety,  and  serve  for  certain  works  of 
art,  and  for  making  light  ornaments,  fancy  baskets, 
and  artificial  flowers. 


222          THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

The  character  of  these  plants  recalls  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  pages  of  the  journal  of  poor  Margaret 
Fuller,  afterwards  Marchioness  D'Ossoli,  in  which  she 
exhibited  that  rare  union  of  deep  sentiment  with  a 
conscientious  study  of  nature.  She  is  speaking  of  a 
man  to  whom  society  is  no  longer  open,  and  who, 
like  the  illustrious  prisoner  of  Fenestrella  in  the 
touching  story  of  Picciola,  had  given  himself  up  en- 
tirely to  the  study  of  nature,  animals  and  plants. 

"  I  had,"  said  this  person,  "  kept  two  specimens 
of  Yucca  filamintosa  during  six  or  seven  years  with- 
out their  ever  having  come  to  nower  I  did  not  know 
the  flowers  of  this  plant,  and  had  no  idei  of  the  senti- 
ments which  they  might  call  forth. 

In  the  month  of  June  last  I  discovered  a  bud 
upon  the  plant  that  had  the  best  exposure,  and  two 
weeks  afterward,  the  second  plant,  which  stood  more 
in  the  shade,  also  began  to  bud.  I  iirigined  I  was 
about  to  have  an  opportunity  of  examining  the 
blooming  of  the  one  after  the  other ;  but  no,  the 
most  favored  of  the  two  waited  for  his  companion, 
and  both  of  them  bloomed  together  just  at  the  time 
of  the  full  moon.  This  coincidence  struck  me  at  first 
as  uncommon,  but  when  I  saw  the  flowers  by  the 
clear  light  of  the  moon,  1  comprehended  it.  This 
plant  is  created  for  the  moon,  as  the  heliotrope  is  for 
the  sun.  It  is  not  acted  upon  by  any  other  influence, 
and  does  not  unfold  its  beauties  by  any  other  light. 
The  first  night  that  I  saw  it  in  flower  I  felt  a  special 
delight,  I  might  even  say  ecstasy.  Many  white 
flowers  show  to  the  greatest  advantage  in  broad 


THE   YUCCAS. 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.          225 

daylight.  The  lily,  for  example,  with  its  thick,  firm 
petals  of  dead  white,  requires  daylight  to  bring  out 
its  full  beauty;  but  the  transparent  petals  of  the 
yucca,  of  a  greenish  white,  and  looking  dull  in  broad 
daylight,  gleam  with  a  silvery  brightness  in  the 
moonlight ;  nor  is  it  only  the  plant  which  does  not 
assume  its  true  tint  in  the  daytime,  but  the  flower, 
which  like  all  bell-shaped  flowers,  is  unable  to  close  en- 
tirely after  it  has  once  opened,  contracts  and  nearly 
shuts  up  at  noon,  and  lets  its  tiny  bells  droop  sadly. 
The  leaves,  also,  which  at  night  seem  vigorous  and  large, 
and  stand  out  boldly  from  the  stem  in  the  shape  of  a 
fan,  like  the  palm,  appear  languid  and  imperfectly 
formed  during  the  day.  Their  edges  seem  ragged 
and  unequal,  as  if  nature,  dissatisfied  with  her  work, 
had  left  them  without  bestowing  the  last  and  finishing 
touches.  On  the  day  after  the  night  on  which  my 
yuccas  first  bloomed  I  could  not  understand  my  mis- 
apprehension, for  the  flowers  seemed  to  have  lost  all 
their  beauty.  But  on  the  second  evening  I  returned 
to  the  garden.  There,  in  the  soft  light  of  the  moon, 
my  precious  flowers  expanded  more  lovely  than  be- 
fore. The  stem  rose  up  into  the  air,  straight  as  an 
arrow,  all  the  flower  bells  grouped  themselves  around 
it  in  the  most  graceful  way,  and  the  petals,  more 
transparent  than  crystal,  shone  with  a  softer  light 
than  diamonds;  the  outlines  were  clearly  defined, 
and  yet  as  airy  as  if  they  had  been  woven  by 
the  light  of  the  moon.  The  leaves,  which  had  ap- 
peared ragged  during  the  day,  seemed  now  bordered 
with  the  finest  gossamer  fringes.  I  gazed  at  my 
15 


226  THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 

beautiful  plant  until  my  emotion  became  so  strong 
that  I  restrained  it  with  difficulty.  Then  a  thought 
filled  my  soul.  It  was  that  this  flower  of  the  moon 
was  the  most  perfect  symbol  of  beauty  and  of  the 
purity  of  woman. 

I  have  since  had  frequent  opportunities  of  study- 
ing the  yucca,  and  of  ascertaining  by  frequent  obser- 
vations, the  truth  of  what  was  revealed  to  me  so  poet- 
ically, viz.:  that  this  flower  blooms  only  at  the  time 
of  the  full  moon,  and  that  it  veils  its  charms  from  the 
bright  eye  of  day  and  reveals  them  only  to  the  di- 
vine eye  of  the  night." 


Rafflesia  Arnold!. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NYMPHEACLE. VICTORIA  REGINA. RAFFLESIA   ARNOLDI. 

TVORBIGNY,  the  traveller,  while  travelling 
•*-*  through  the  Republic  of  Bolivia,  at  Corrien- 
tes,  was  attracted  by  the  flowers,  leaves,  and  fruits, 
of  a  gigantie  plant  which  he  found  floating  on  the 
water.  This  plant,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  Amer- 
ica, bears  some  resemblance  to  the  water-lily,  and 
seems  to  belong  to  the  family  of  the  Nympheacce. 
The  reader,  in  order  to  obtain  some  idea  of  what  it 
is  like,  must  imagine  a  vast  extent  of  water  covered 
entirely  with  huge  round  leaves,  floating  on  the  sur- 
face, measuring  from  three  to  six  feet,  with  flowers 
now  yellow,  now  violet,  and  sometimes  white,  more 
than  a  foot  long,  and  diffusing  a  delicious  perfume. 


228  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

These  flowers  produce  a  spherical  fruit,  which, 
when  ripe,  is  as  large  as  an  average-sized  cocoa-nut, 
and  full  of  round  seeds,  which  are  farinaceous.  On 
account  of  this  nutritive  character  the  Spaniards 
have  called  the  plant  "  water-maize,"  while  patriotic 
Englishmen,  impressed  with  the  beauty  and  rarity  of 
this  colossal  flower,  have  named  it,  in  honor  of  their 
sovereign,  Victoria  B-egina. 

The  Lotus  is  the  sacred  water-lily  of  the  East, 
which  appears  in  the  mythology  of  almost  every  Ori- 
ental nation.  In  Egypt,  where  the  flower  reaches 
its  greatest  beauty,  it  appears  constantly  as  the  throne 
of  Osiris,  the  god  of  day.  In  India,  Vishnu  was  rep- 
resented as  a  beautiful  youth  sleeping  on  a  star-spot- 
ted serpent  and  holding  the  lotus  in  his  hand.  One  of 
the  holiest  volumes  of  the  Buddhists  is  entitled, 
"  The  White  Lotus  of  the  Good  Law,"  and  Buddha 
himself  is  always  pictured  bearing  lotus  flowers  in 
each  hand.  The  Syrians  regarded  it  as  a  symbol  of 
the  cradle  of  Moses,  found  on  the  shores  of  the  Nile 
by  Pharaoh's  daughter,  and  wherever  the  story  of 
the  deluge  found  its  way  the  lotus  was  associated 
with  the  ark. 

Our  own  water-lily  (Nymphcea),  growing  in  ponds 
and  slow-flowing  rivers,  gives  us  at  least  a  faint  idea 
of  the  form  and  beauty  of  the  Victoria  Regina ;  but] 
the  South  American  plant  is  of  gigantic  proportions 
compared  with  ours.  The  large  disks  of  round  leaves, 
from  five  to  six  feet  in  diameter,  are  so  many  huge 
dishes  of  perfume.  The  leafstalk  is  below  in  the  cen- 
tre. The  leaves  are  smooth  and  green  above,  with  a  rim 


THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  33 \ 

about  two  inches  high,  like  the  edge  of  a  sieve  or  a 
large  tray.  On  the  under  side  they  are  reddish,  and 
divided  into  a  great  number  of  compartments  by  the 
veins,  which  project,  leaving  between  them  triangu- 
lar or  quadrangular  spaces,  each  filled  with  a  certain 
quantity  of  air  by  means  of  which  the  leaves  are  sup- 
ported on  the  surface  of  the  water.  And  so  well  do 
they  serve  this  purpose,  that  birds  and  insects  of  all 
sizes  may  be  seen  walking  upon  these  leaves  or  pur- 
suing their  prey  across  them  as  if  they  were  on  a  sol- 
id surface. 

Scomburgk,  who  discovered  this  flower  in  Brit- 
ish Guiana  independently  of  the  traveller  to  whom 
we  referred  at  the  commencement  of  this  chapter, 
lingers  with  pleasure  over  the  description  of  this  beau- 
tiful plant.  The  calyx  consists  of  four  leaves  of  a 
brownish  red  outside  and  white  inside,  each  six  or 
seven  inches  long  and  three  inches  wide.  From  these 
leaves  of  the  calyx  a  considerable  number  of  petals 
spread  out  in  a  circular  and  symmetrical  form.  These 
are  white  at  first  but  become  darker  first  at  the  centre 
and  gradually  turn  to  the  color  of  the  carnation.  In 
many  respects  it  is  very  like  our  water-lily.  The 
petals,  which  are  more  than  a  hundred  in  number, 
gradually  assume  the  form  of  stamens  as  they  approach 
the  central  receptacle,  which  is  fleshy,  and  bears 
large  and  farinaceous  seeds  on  the  surface. 

Our  indigenous  water-lily  presents,  in  respect  to 
size,  an  appearance  as  worthy  of  attention  as  its  exotic 
relative.  It  is  in  its  way  as  richly-furnished  with 
floral  beauty  as  the  Victoria.  About  seven  o'clock  in 


232          THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

the  morning  it  gradually  rises  from  the  water,  and  at 
midday  it  has  attained  a  height  of  three  inches  above 
the  surface.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  it  be- 
gins to  make  its  preparations  for  the  night ;  it  shuts 
itself  up  and  returns  gradually  to  its  home  in  the 
water,  where  it  remains  till  to-morrow's  sun  draws  it 
to  the  surface  once  more. 

In  a  memoir  written  by  Ribaucourt  we  find  some 
curious  observations  upon  the  developement  of  the 
leaves  of  this  plant  and  on  the  prognostications  which 
they  suggest.  It  was  without  doubt  by  means  of  sim- 
ilar observations  that  Thales,  in  the  ancient  times,  gave 
a  telling  lesson  to  the  inhabitants  of  Miletus.  It  had 
been  objected  to  his  science  that  it  was  unproductive, 
furnishing  neither  gold  or  silver.  For  an  answer  the 
philosopher  bought  up  in  advance  the  whole  product 
of  the  olive-trees  that  grew  around  the  town.  He  had 
predicted  that  the  crop  would  be  very  abundant, — the 
result  verified  the  prediction,  and  Thales  found  him- 
self the  sole  possessor  of  all  the  olives  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. But  content  with  proving  thus  that  a  philoso- 
pher can  make  a  fortune  as  well  as  another,  he  dis- 
tributed the  whole  of  his  gains  amoiig  the  merchants 
of  Miletus. 

The  leaf  of  the  water-lily  sprouts  from  the  end 
of  its  root  early  in  autumn.  It  remains,  however,  very 
small,  and  rolled  up  during  this  season  and  the  winter 
that  follows ;  but  in  the  spring  it  begins  to  grow  and 
unfold  itself  as  the  season  advances.  Castel  narrates 
that  walking  with  a  friend  in  September,  1788,  along 
the  shores  of  a  lake  abounding  with  water-lilies,  he 


THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION.          233 

was  surprised  to  see  that  the  leaves  had  already  with- 
drawn themselves  under  water,  which  they  do  not 
generally  do  till  about  the  end  of  October.  From 
this  circumstance  he  augured  that  frost  would  soon 
set  in  and  that  the  winter  would  be  long.  The  result 
justified  the  prediction. 

Certain  vegetables  are  especially  intended  for  the 
ornamentation  of  different  regions  of  the  globe.  The 
NympheaccB,  floating  on  the  surface  of  fresh,  calm 
waters,  charm  the  eyes  of  wayfarers  and  painters  in 
all  parts  of  the  world.  In  Europe  and  in  our  own 
country  there  are  white  and  yellow  water-lilies ;  Afri- 
ca has  varieties  with  blue  flowers,  and  in  the  Indies 
there  are  the  Euryale  and  the  Nelumbium. 

Thus  Egypt  seems  to  have  had  its  own  peculiar 
plant,  the  papyrus  (Cyperus  Papyrus),  on  the  inner 
bark  of  which  they  wrote.  There  are,  it  is  true,  vari- 
ous opinions  entertained  on  the  precise  plant  which 
furnished  them  with  their  paper ;  but  the  majority  of 
naturalists  incline  to  consider  the  paper-sedge  the  gen- 
uine papyrus  of  the  Egyptians. 

In  like  manner  other  plants  appear  to  have  a 
special  affection  for  certain  mountain  tracts.  Such 
are  the  rhododendron,  charming  shrubs  with  ever- 
green foliage,  which  adorn  the  middle  regions  of 
shady  slopes  and  which  the  traveller  meets  with  ei- 
ther in  the  old'world  or  in  the  northern  portions  of  tho 
new  world,  blooming  at  the  height  of  from  3,000  to 
6,000  feet,  now  on  the  precipices  of  the  Faulhorn  and 
now  on  the  enchanting  banks  of  the  Lago  Maggiore. 

The  beautiful  flowers  of  this    evergreen  remind 


234          THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

us  instantly  of  mountains  and  lofty  Alpine  regions, 
where  snow-covered  summits  mingle  with  the  white 
clouds.  For  the  rhododendron  marks  the  zones 
where  the  vegetation  ceases  and  perpetual  snow  com- 
mences ;  hence  it  does  not  flourish  in  the  warm  plain, 
and  the  Rhododendron  ponticum  cannot  endure  the 
rays  of  the  sun. 

The  largest  of  all  known  flowers  is  one  discovered 
in  1818,  by  Dr.  Joseph  Arnold,  and  described  by  Sir 
Stamford  Kaffles,  then  agent  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany at  Sumatra. 

The  first  communication  relative  to  this  remarkable 
flower  was  addressed  to  the  Linnaean  Society  of  Lon- 
don, which  immediately  directed  careful  research  to 
be  made  upon  the  subject  and  published  the  interest- 
ing results  in  its  transactions. 

This  gigantic  flower,  surpassing  all  other  par- 
asites in  size,  was  discovered  during  the  first  expedi- 
tion of  Sir  Stamford  into  the  interior  of  the  province, 
an  expedition  in  which  he  was  accompanied  by  Dr. 
Arnold,  member  of  the  Linnsean  Society,  who  would, 
no  doubt,  have  realized  the  high  hopes  entertained  of 
him  had  not  death  cut  him  off  at  the  very  beginning 
of  his  career. 

Of  this  event  Sir  Stamford  says  in  a  letter  : — "  I 
am  pained  to  have  to  report  the  death  of  Dr.  Arnold. 
I  had  hoped,  instead  of  sending  yen  such  sad  news, 
to  give  you  an  account  of  the  discoveries  made  by  this 
youthful  savant,  and  especially  of  the  discovery  of  a 
gigantic  flower,  the  largest,  without  doubt,  that  has 
ever  been  seen  to  the  present  day." 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          235 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written 
by  Dr.  Arnold  himself: 

"  Arrived  at  Pulo  Lebbar,  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Manna,  I  delighted  in  the  anticipation  of  reporting  to 
you  that  I  had  discovered  what  is,  possibly,  the  most 
surprising  prodigy  that  exists  in  the  vegetable  wc-rld. 
I  had  gone  aside  for  some  little  distance,  when  one  of 
my  Malay  servants  ran  up  to  me  with  astonishment, 
marked  on  his  features,  and  exclaimed :  '  Come  here, 
sir,  come  and  see  a  new  flower — very  large,  magnifi- 
cent, extraordinary.'  I  went  to  the  place  to  which 
the  Malay  directed  me.  " 

And  there  to  his  astonishment  he  saw  this  colossus 
of  the  floral  world.  He  had  it  cut  and  carried  to  his 
residence,  where  it  was  the  astonishment  of  every  one. 
It  was  examined,  studied  and  copied,  and  it  was  from 
the  sketch  taken  on  that  occasion  that  we  give  our  il- 
lustration of  the  Rafflesia  Arnoldi. 

The  five  magnificent  petals  that  spring  from  the 
centre  are  of  a  beautiful  orange  yellow  ;  in  the  centre 
of  the  calyx,  upon  a  dark  violet  ground,  rises  a  huge 
pistil,  looking  like  a  blaze  in  a  bowl  of  punch. 
This  prodigious  flower  is  a  yard  wide,  the  petals  are 
a  foot  in  length,  and  stand  at  a  distance  of  nearly  a 
foot  from  each  other.  The  nectarine  or  honey-cup 
looks  large  enough  to  contain  a  dozen  pints,  and  the 
weight  of  the  whole  thing  is  given  at  15  pounds. 


Nepenthe. 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

THE   NELUMBIUM. NEPENTHES. 

A  FTEB-  the  nympheacse  we  will  speak  of  the  ne- 
-£*•  lumbium,  a  class  of  magnificent  herbaceous 
plants  of  a  general  conformation  closely  resembling 
the  preceding,  which  grow  in  the  fresh  waters  of 
the  warm  regions  of  Asia  and  North  America.  The 
flowers  are  very  large  and  white,  red  or  yellow  in 
color.  Besides  the  interest  that  is  felt  in  the  Nelum- 
~bium  speciosum,  the  famous  lotus  of  the  ancients, 
two  species  call  for  attention,  the  brilliant  nelumbo 
and  the  yellow  nelumbo. 

The  flowers  of  the  former  are  among  the  most 
beautiful  and  the  largest  in  the  vegetable  kingdom. 


TEE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          237 

They  resemble  magnolias,  emit  an  odor  of  aniseseed 
and  grow  upon  long  foot-stalks  that  raise  them  to  the 
surface  of  the  water.  They  are  found  principally  in 
India  and  China,  and  are  partly  cultivated  on  account 
of  the  veneration  in  which  they  are  held  by  the  in- 
habitants of  those  countries.  For  the  nelumbium  is 
looked  upon  as  a  sacred  plant — the  symbol  of  fertility 
— and  their  divinities  are  represented  as  seated  on  its 
leaves.  A  species  of  the  yellow  nelumbio,  grows  in 
this  country  in  South  Carolina  and  Florida,  but  its 
flowers  are  smaller  and  always  of  a  pale  yellow. 

THE    NEPENTHES. 

What  Homer  calls  the  Nepenthe  has  been  inter- 
preted as  an  allegory  by  Plutarch  and  some  of  the  an- 
cient writers  already,  because  the  flower  now  known 
by  that  name  appears  not  to  have  been  familiar  to 
the  ancients.  The  poet  is  believed  to  have  described, 
under  the  form  of  a  glorious  flower,  the  charming 
Queen  of  Sparta,  who  made  her  guests  forget  how  time 
passed,  by  her  wondrous  tale  of  love  and  adventure. 
It  is  certain  that  neither  Lamark  nor  Brongni,  nor 
Jussieu,  have  been  able  to  class  this  plant  among  those 
now  known.  One  believed  it  might  belong  to  the 
orchids ;  another  compared  it  to  the  rafflesias  ;  a  third 
calls  it  a  "  plant  of  uncertain  character ; "  while  still 
others  make  of  it,  in  despair,  a  special  family,  that  of 
the  Nepenthees,  represented  in  India  by  the  Nepen- 
thes distillatoria  •  in  Madagascar  by  a  special  genus, 
characterized  by  the  leafy  tufts  of  its  cups ;  in  Cochin 
China,  by  the  Nepenthes  phyllamphora ;  and  in 


238          THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

Java  by  the  Nepenthes  gymnamphora.  The  Cepha- 
lotus  is  the  Australian  pitcher-plant,  and  exceedingly 
curious  and  beautiful,  being  ornamented  with  stripes 
of  red  and  purple,  while  the  Sarracenia,  also  called 
the  side-saddle  plant,  from  a  faint  resemblance  to  a 
lady's  saddle,  is  quite  common  in  this  country  and 
abounds  in  the  marshy  regions  of  Virginia.  All  the 
nepenthes  are  evergreen  creepers,  and  in  the  tropics 
climb  up  the  trunks  of  trees  to  the  height  of  thirty 
feet.  This  habit,  and  the  long  dark  green  shining 
leaves  render  the  several  kinds  of  nepenthes  highly 
ornamental ;  but  the  curiously  constructed  and  grace-- 
fully  formed  pitcher  which  hangs  by  a  long  slender 
stalk  to  the  end  of  each  leaf,  places  them  among  the 
most  singular  and  attractive  objects  in  nature.  Draw- 
ing their  own  water  unaided  from  the  wells  of  the 
dewy  night,  they  fasten  down  the  lid  to  keep  it 
sweet  and  untainted  by  the  wandering  bedouins  of 
the  air,  to  be  ready,  at  call,  for  the  master's  sole  use. 
It  is  commonly  believed  among  the  Indians  of  the 
mountains  that  if  they  cut  off  the  little  cups  of  a  ne- 
penthe, and  empty  out  the  contents,  the  day  will  not 
pass  without  clouds  gathering  and  rain  falling  ;  hence, 
when  they  have  reason  to  fear  rain,  they  take  good 
care  not  to  touch  this  plant.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  continued  drought  makes  them  anxious  for  rain, 
they  hasten  to  turn  over  the  cups  or  urns  of  the  ne- 
penthes. They  hold  this  plant  in  high  esteem,  as  being 
one  of  the  most  precious  to  the  traveller,  although  it 
often  happens  that  no  nepenthes  are  found  except 
on  the  banks  of  rivers,  the  waters  of  which  are  prefer- 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          239 

able  to  that  of  these  vegetable  cups  in  which  tiny  in- 
sects are  apt  to  deposit  their  eggs. 

"  The  structure  of  the  cups  appeared  at  first  per- 
fectly inexplicable  to  botanists,"  says  a  correspondent 
of  the  Magasin  Pittoresque  ;  "  for  in  no  other  plants 
are  actual  tendrils  found  to  develope  themselves  in 
such  singular  manner."  Dr.  Hooker,  the  great  Eng- 
lish naturalist,  however,  soon  ascertained  by  careful 
observation  the  manner  of  its  developement.  The 
leaf,  as  it  first  unfolds,  presents  a  curious  tendril  or 
cirrhus,  extending  beyond  the  extreme  point  of  the 
leaf.  As  this  tendril  lengthens,  the  small  enlarge- 
ment at  the  end  increases,  and  the  tendril,  in  the 
mean  time,  gradually  bends  upwards  at  the  point  like 
a  hook  ;  the  part  thus  bent  continues  to  enlarge,  the 
substance  of  the  stalk  appearing  to  swell,  until  it  at- 
tains the  size  and  form  of  a  pitcher.  The  lid  then 
separates  from  the  rim  excepting  at  the  upper  and 
outer  side,  where  it  remains  more  or  less  raised  and 
united,  as  by  a  hinge,  to  the  pitcher.  This  pitcher, 
being  attached  at  its  base  to  the  slender,  tendril- 
like  stalk,  hangs  suspended  six  inches  or  a  foot  from 
the  point  of  the  leaf  with  which  it  is  connected. 
Forty  or  more  pitchers  sometimes  hang  around  a  sin- 
gle plant.  As  the  pitcher  swells,  and  while  the  aper- 
ture remains  hermetically  closed  by  the  lids,  a  quan- 
tity of  pure,  tasteless  and  colorless  water  collects  in 
the  cavity,  which,  when  the  lid  is  raised,  is  generally 
found  at  least  one-third  full  of  this  infiltrated  fluid. 
In  the  J^afflesiana,  the  somewhat  pear-shaped  pitcher 
is  six  inches  deep  and  two  or  three  inches  in  diame- 


24:0 


THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 


ter  at  the  base  !     The  whole  of  the  outside  of  pitcher 
and  lid  is  spotted  with  a  rich,  brownish-red  or  purple. 
It  is  well  known  that  similar  modifications  of  the 
leafstalk,  and  the  leaf  itself,  occur   in  many  other 


Ice  Plant. 


plants  also.  Thus,  in  the  water  calthrop,  which 
forces  its  roots  down  into  the  mud  but  spreads  its 
graceful  leaves  over  the  surface  of  the  water,  the  leaf- 
stalks are  seen  swelling  in  the  middle  into  a  kind  of 


THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.         241 

bladder,  filled  with  air,  which  serves  to  sustain  the 
plant.  The  leaf-stalks  of  the  orange  expand  into  real 
leaves,  those  of  the  mimosas  often  take  the  place  of 
actual  leaves,  which  remain  abortive ;  and  those  of 
other  plants,  such  as  cherry-trees  and  apricot-trees, 
bear  glands  which  correspond  exactly  to  the  cells 
that  line  the  interior  of  the  cups. 

In  the  marvellously  beautiful  ice-plant  of  the  Ori 


Pyralis  of  Viae. 


242          THE  WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

ent  (Mesembryanthemum  crystallinum\  all  the  super- 
ficial cells  of  the  leaves  are  so  excessively  developed 
that  they  look  like  so  many  small  bags  filled  with 
limpid  waters ;  hence  the  appearance  of  the  plant, 
which  seems  to  be  covered  with  drops  of  frozen  wa- 
ters and  refreshes  the  eye  in  the  midst  of  a  dry  and 
dusty  landscape. 

In  other  plants  the  leaves  seems  to  have  a  special 
attraction  for  insects,  which,  leaving  blossom  and  fruit 
alike  unharmed,  are  irresistibly  attracted  by  a  myste- 
rious charm  in  the  leaves.  Legions  descend  upon  the 
unfortunate  trees,  among  which  the  evergreen  coni- 
ferse  alone  harbor  400  species,  all  more  or  less  hurt- 
ful. One  of  these,  the  pyralis,  destroys  the  leaves  of 
the  vine  and  with  them  the  life  of  the  whole  plant, 
thus  carrying  despair  to  all  the  vine-growing  regions 
of  Europe  and  our  own  country.  For  even  in  our  own 
vineyards  the  obnoxious  insect  has  made  its  appear- 
ance, and,  so  far,  science  and  experience  have  been 
alike  unable  to  contend  with  the  feeble  and  apparent- 
ly insignificant  moth. 


THE    OTJVIRANDRA    FENESTKALIS. 

In  the  conformation  of  its  leaves  this  plant,  a  na- 
tive of  Madagascar,  is  not  less  remarkable  than  the  pre- 
ceding. Its  leaves  assume  oddly  enough  the  form 
of  windows,  and  hence  the  odd  name  the  plant  is 
made  to  bear.  The  vascular  network  is  left  without 
the  diploe,  which  covers  the  leaves  of  all  other  plants 
of  this  family.  It  is  a  vigorous  plant,  growing  at  a 


THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.          243 

depth  of  a  foot  or  more  under  water;  the  root  a 
large,  oblong  fleshy  tubercle,  out  of  which  come  forth 
cylindrical  fibres.  The  leaves,  which  remain  curious- 
ly enough  always  beneath  the  surface,  are  pistillate, 
elliptical,  and  pierced  with  innumerable  holes  in  the 
form  of  parallelograms,  and  very  close  to  each  other. 
They  consist  exclusively  of  the  elegant  network  of 
nerves,  and  thus  present  the  appearance  of  delicate  lace 
• — hence  the  plant  is  also  known  as  the  lace-leaf  plant. 
The  color  is  bright  green,  and  the  whole  leaf  looks  as 
if  composed  of  fine  tendrils  wrought  after  a  most  reg- 
ular pattern  so  as  to  resemble  a  piece  of  bright  green 
lace  or  open  needle-work.  The  flower-stalk,  green  and 
cylindrical,  is  the  only  part  of  the  plant  which  rises 
above  the  surface  and  terminates  at  the  top  in  two  to 
five  finger-like  spikes,  consisting  of  small  pink  flow- 
ers, exhaling  a  delicious  fragrance.  These  and  the 
seeds  develop  under  the  influence  of  light  and  air, 
which  the  leaves  never  seem  to  enjoy. 

Among  marvellous  flowers  we  ought  also  to  men- 
tion the  Yallisneria,  the  typical  species  of  which  is  the 
Yallisneria  spiralis.  The  rivers  of  Southern  Europe  are 
adorned  with  numerous  specimens  of  this  remarkable 
plant,  which  was  long  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  in  the  whole  kingdom  of  Flora  on  ac- 
count of  the  marvellous  phenomena  which  it  presents 
at  the  time  of  flowering.  The  female  flowers  appear 
floating  on  the  surface,  as  if  in  anxious  expectation  of 
others,  which  they  are  to  fertilize.  As  if  in  obe- 
dience to  their  call,  the  male  flowers,  borne  upon  a  long 
spiral  stem,  gradually  rise  from  the  bottom  of  the 
16 


244          THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

pond,  unrolling  the  long  flower-stalk,  turn  after  turn, 
till  they  also  reach  the  surface.  Here  they  meet  the 
h'rst-comers ;  they  touch,  and  immediately  begin  to 
retreat  once  more  to  their  dark  homes  beneath  the  wa- 
ters, where  they  ripen  their  seed  and  provide  for  new 
generations. 

We  cannot  very  well  leave  this  part*  of  our  sub- 
ject without  turning  our  attention  to  a  phenomenon 
more  general  and  more  important  than  any  to  which 
we  have  yet  referred — that  of  the  migration  of  plants. 
Without  this  power  of  spreading  abroad  and  actually 
moving  from  place  to  place  we  could  not  enjoy  the 
richness  of  the  natural  carpet  with  which  the  earth  is 
covered. 

The  learned  director  of  the  Museum  at  Rouen,  M. 
Pouchet,  shall  be  our  guide  here  as  well  as  in  all 
questions  of  general  import  which  require  the  assist- 
ance of  a  practical  botanist.  "  Nothing,"  he  says,  "  re- 
veals to  us  more  vividly  the  splendid  resources  of  nature 
than  the  facility  with  which  she  covers  the  whole  sur- 
face of  the  globe  with  vegetation  and  with  life.  This 
is  attained  not  merely  by  the  wonderful  fecundity 
with  which  she  endows  plants, — she  employs  also  the 
most  ingenious  and  varied  processes  for  transporting 
her  fruits  and  seeds  from  one  pole  to  another." 

The  vast  number  of  seeds  which  certain  plants 
bear  ensures  their  continual  reproduction  ;  and  upon 
this  point  calculation  leads  occasionally  to  unexpect- 
ed results.  Hay  lias  counted  33,000  seeds  upon  one 
stalk  of  poppy  and  36,000  upon  a  single  stem  of  the  to- 
bacco plant.  Dodard  sets  down  at  even  a  higher  figure 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.          245 

the  number  of  seeds  that  can  be  gathered  from  an  elm 
— according  to  him  this  tree  furnishes  every  year  more 
than  520,000 ! 

It  is  evident  that  if  all  these  seeds  attained  devel- 
opment, it  would  require  only  a  few  generations  for 
these  plants  to  cover  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe. 
"But  a  multitude  of  causes  retard  this  threatened  inva- 
sion. 

The  fecundity  of  some  mushrooms  is  still  more  ex- 
traordinary. Fries  has  counted  more  than  10,000,000 
spores  upon  a  single  individual  of  the  Reticularia 
Maxima.  Other  plants  of  the  same  family  produce 
a  still  greater  number  of  possible  successors — indeed 
the  abundance  is  so  extraordinary  that  all  the  powers 
of  the  human  intellect  do  not  enable  us  to  compute 
their  actual  number. 

The  majestic  Arancaria  of  Patagonia  bears  at  the 
tips  of  its  branches  20  or  30  fruits  of  one  tree,  and 
each  fruit  contains  about  300  kernels.  Except  by 
scattered  families  of  the  savage  natives  who  subsist 
mainly  on  these  fruits,  the  country  is  almost  untrod- 
den by  man  and  left  to  itself,  and  hence  the  arancaria 
has  formed,  according  to  the  interesting  account  of 
Dr.  Peoppig,  immense  forests  extending  north  and 
south  for  over  800  miles. 

On  the  other  hand,  such  is  the  fecundity  of  some 
of  the  gigantic  Ly  coper  don  gigantium,  that  micro- 
scopic spores  must  be  counted  by  millions  of  thou- 
sands of  millions.  But  although  they  are  invisible  to 
the  eye,  each  of  these  spores  can  produce  a  mush- 
room which,  in  one  night,  may  attain  the  size  of  a 


246  THE  WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION, 

large  gourd !  And  it  may  be  said  without  exagger- 
ation that  if  the  seeds  of  this  plant  were  dispersed  by 
a  miracle  over  the  globe,  and  were  to  spring  up  sim- 
ultaneously, on  the  morrow  the  entire  surface  of 
the  earth  would  be  covered  with  hideous  mushrooms ! 

The  atmosphere  is,  of  course,  the  chief  agent  in  the 
dissemination  of  plants.  A  multitude  of  seeds  have 
been  furnished  with  feathery  plumes,  or  with  mem- 
braneous wings,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  enabling  them 
the  more  easily  to  be  carried  away  upon  its  current. 

For  this  purpose  the  light  fruit  of  many  plants  is 
surmounted  by  a  plume  of  gossamer  fibres,  forming  a 
real  parachute  which  rises  upon  the  lightest  breath  of 
the  zephyr. 

Borne  away  from  the  mother  plant  and  mounting 
on  the  wind  by  means  of  this  balloon,  like  a  tuft  of 
feathers,  the  seeds  perform  enormous  voyages.  The 
gentlest  breeze  bears  them  from  the  lowly  valley  to 
the  highest  mountain  top ;  and  if  a  tempest  arises  the 
frail  parachute  is  whirled  away  by  the  storm,  joins  the 
clouds  on  high,  crosses  oceans  and  effects  its  descent  in 
distant,  unknown  countries. 

Other  seeds,  too  heavy  to  be  borne  upon  the 
winds,  and  able  to  endure  soaking,  accomplish  long 
sea-voyages,  and  cross  oceans  by  the  aid  of  currents 
and  waves.  Thus  cocoas,  protected  by  their  woody 
casing,  and  carried  off  by  regular  currents,  pass  from 
the  shores  of  the  Seychelles  to  the  coast  of  Malabar,  a 
distance  of  1,200  miles.  Astonished  by  this  unex- 
pected and  mysterious  phenomena,  which  is  repeated 
every  year,  the  Indians,  as  we  have  seen,  can  only  ex- 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION.          247 

plain  it  by  supposing  that  the  trees  which  produce 
these  enormous  fruits  flourish  in  the  unseen  depths 
of  the  ocean. 

It  is,  however,  to  the  action  of  fresh  water — to  the 
currents  of  rivers  and  brooks  that  the  most  important 
migration  of  plants  are  to  be  traced.  If  Pascal  has 
called  rivers  "  roads  that  run,"  plants  seem  to  have 
discovered  the  fact  before  him.  Borne  on  their  flow- 
ing waters,  seeds  frequently  travel  over  great  distances 
and  find  new  homes  in  remote  lands.  Even  at  home 
land  is  continually  washed  awray  from  river  banks  or 
shores  and  thrown  up  again  elsewhere,  full  of  tiny 
seeds. 

Animals  also  contribute  largely  to  the  dissemina- 
tion of  plants.  Bees  and  other  insects  do  much 
planting ;  marmots,  dormice  and  hamsters  provision 
their  underground  dwellings  with  fruits,  and  a  por- 
tion of  their  commissariat,  often  forgotten  and  left 
underground,  germinate  and  develop  at  the  return 
of  spring. 

Other  mammiferous  animals  assist  in  their  dis- 
semination by  a  still  simpler  process  ;  seeds  mature 
in  their  fleeces  and  are  deposited  by  them  here  and 
there  in  their  peregrinations.  Thus  sheep  are  made 
to  disseminate  the  seeds  of  agrimony. 

If  birds  consume  an  enormous  quantity  of  seeds, 
they  are  made  useful,  in  return,  by  Providence,  to  as- 
sist, energetically  in  scattering  other  seeds  broad- 
cast over  the  land  which  they  inhabit.  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, thrushes,  who  feed  upon  the  berries  of  the 
mistletoe,  have  been  made  to  disseminate  those  cele- 


248          THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

brated  plants  throughout  France.  Other  birds  by 
the  same  means  propagate  in  their  turn  a  great 
number  of  plants.  Travellers  tell  us,  that  when  the 
Dutch  had  destroyed  the  nutmeg-trees  in  many  of 
their  East  Indian  islands  in  order  to  enhance  the  val- 
ue of  their  nutmeg  plantations  in  Ceylon,  a  variety  of 
pigeons,  which  are  particularly  fond  of  these  fruits, 
soon  repeopled  the  localities  with  nutmeg-trees  almost 
in  every  place  where  they  had  been  apparently  extir- 
pated by  the  barbarism  of  the  Netherlander. 

Even  man  is  forced  by  Nature  to  do  duty  as  an 
agent  in  disseminating  plants.  His  vessels  and  cara- 
vans, traversing  oceans  and  deserts,  carry  unconscious- 
ly seeds  and  plants  and  spread  them  abroad  in  new 
countries  which  he  thus  prepares,  in  blind  obedience 
to  higher  powers,  for  his  own  future  use. 


NUTMEG  TREE 


Antirrhinum  Graccum. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 


THE    SENSITIVE    PLANT. 

"  Weak,  with  nice  sense,  the  chaste  mimosa  stands ; 
From  each  rude  touch  withdraws  her  timid  hands ; 
Oft,  as  light  clouds  o'erpass  the  summer-glade, 
Alarmed,  she  trembles  at  the  passing  shade, 
And  .feels,  alive  through  all  her  tender  form, 
The  whispered  murmurs  of  the  gathering  storm ; 
Shuts  her  sweet  eyelids  to  approaching  night 
And  hails  with  freshened  charm  the  rising  light. 
Veiled,  with  gay  decency  and  modest  pride, 
Slow  to  the  Mosque  she  moves,  an  Eastern  hride ; 
There  her  soft  vows  unceasing  love  record, 
Queen  of  the  bright  seraglio  of  her  lord. 
So  sinks  or  rises  with  the  changeful  hour 
The  liquid  silver  in  its  glassy  tower. 
So  turns  the  needle  to  the  pole  it  loves, 
With  fine  vibrations  quivering  as  it  moves." 

r]pHUS    the    poet    Darwin   sings,  in   his  fanciful 
•*•    "  Loves,  of  the  Plants,"  the  praise  of  the  Sensitive 
plant  (Mimosa  sensitiva  and  predica). 


252          THE  WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION. 

Every  one  is,  of  course,  familiar  with  the  singular 
movement  which  the  leaves  of  this  plant  show  when 
they  are  touched.  At  the  gentlest  contact,  they  shrink 
back  upon  their  supports ;  these  fall  back  upon  the 
common  leaf-stalk,  and  the  common  leaf-stalk  finally 
upon  the  main  stem.  If  the  extremity  of  one  of  the  little 
leaflets  be  cut,  the  others  close  around  it  as  if  in  sym- 
pathy. The  leaves  of  this  plant  are  digitate,  that  is, 
they  are  formed  in  rays  branching  oft'  from  a  common 
centre,  like  the  fingers  of  a  hand.  The  narrow, 
straight  leaves  draw  close  to  each  other,  as  soon  as 
they  are  touched,  till  their  upper  sides  meet.  They 
come  together  in  the  same  way  at  nightfall,  or  when 
a  frost  is  sufficiently  sharp  to  affect  the  plant.  In 
calm  and  warm  weather,  they  are  fully  expanded; 
but  when  the  plant  is  shaken  by  the  wind,  all  the 
leaflets  close  simultaneously,  and  the  leaf-stalks  droop 
together.  Even  a  simple  cloud  passing  over  the  face 
of  the  sun,  is  sufticient  to  change  their  position 
their  expansion  diminishing  as  light  and  heat  de- 
crease. Though  closed,  and  apparently  in  a  state  of 
sleep  during  the  night,  they  shrink  still  more  closely 
together  if  any  one  touches  them.  At  the  junction 
of  the  petiole  with  the  stem,  and  of  each  leaflet  with 
the  petiole,  tiny  glands  are  seen,  which  are  the  most 
irritable  points.  To  touch  these  glands  with  the 
point  of  a  pin,  is  enough  to  make  the  leaflet  close. 
If  the  shock  is  sharp,  all  the  leaflets  make  in  succes- 
sion the  same  movement,  and  close  two  by  two  in 
regular  order.  The  whole  leaf  only  begins  to  droop, 
when  all  the  little  leaflets  have  closed  up,  as  if  the 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          253 

main  body  could  not  fall  asleep  till  all  the  members 
have  been  overcome. 

If  a  little  drop  of  water  is  delicately  put  upon  the 
leaflet,  De  Candolle  was  not  able  to  perceive  any 
movement ;  but  if  a  drop  of  sulphuric  acid  was  sub- 
stituted for  water,  the  leaflets  shrunk  instantaneously, 
and  drooped.  The  irritation  is  not  merely  local ;  as 
we  have  said,  it  communicates  itself  from  one  part 
to  another.  The  power  of  contraction  resides  in  the 
tiny  round  cushions  placed  at  the  points  of  junction, 
which  form  a  kind  of  knee-joint  spring,  or  hinge, 
and  allows  the  stem  to  bend  and  lie  down. 

Certain  experiments  would  seem  to  prove  that 
these  delicate  plants  can,  to  a  certain  extent,  accustom 
themselves  to  a  measure  of  excitement.  Desfontaine 
observed  this  in  carrying  one  of  them  in  a  cart.  At 
the  first  movement  of  the  cart  it  closed  its  leaflets, 
and  all  its  leaves  shrunk.  But  by  degrees,  as  the 
cart  rolled  on,  the  plant  seemed  to  accustom  itself  to 
its  new  condition ;  its  leaves  rose  once  more,  and  its 
leaflets  unfolded.  If  the  cart  started  again,  after  hav- 
ing stopped  awhile,  the  delicate  plant  felt  the  influ- 
ence, as  at  first;  but  after  some  time  it  seemed  to 
recover  once  more  from  its  fright,  and  showed  again 
all  its  beauty  to  the  day.  It  is  now,  however,  con- 
sidered more  probable  that  the  sensitive  plant  loses  its 
strange  sensitiveness  from  the  continual  irritation. 
The  power  of  closing  its  leaflets  is  for  a  time  de- 
stroyed by  the  repeated  application  of  the  external, 
mechanical  agent,  and  restored  again  only  after  the 
plant  has  enjoyed  some  rest. 


254          THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

Other  plants  move  when  they  are  touched,  but  in 
a  less  degree  than  the  sensitive  plant.  Such  are  the 
Dionea,  the  Oxalis  sensitives,  and  the  Onoclea  sen- 
sibilis. 

From  the  time  of  Pliny  we  have  been  acquainted 
with  the  fact  of  the  sensitiveness  of  certain  plants  to 
touch.  This  naturalist  says,  that  in  the  environs  of 
Memphis,  there  was  a  plant  like  the  acacia,  the  leaves 
of  which,  arranged  like  plumes,  shrunk  when  they 
were  touched  and  rose  again  after  a  time.  This  is 
evidently  a  sensitive  plant,  though  the  precise  species 
is  not  known.  Pliny,  however,  only  quotes  Theo- 
phrastes. 

PLANTS   THAT   MOVE    SPONTANEOUSLY. 
Desmodium  Gyraus. 

All  created  beings  form  after  all  but  one  great 
family ;  for  it  is  the  same  spirit  that  ordained  the  crea- 
tion of  the  whole  universe;  the  same  laws  direct 
them ;  the  same  power  sustains  them ;  and  all  the 
children  of  our  great  mother  Nature  are  brothers, 
bound  to  each  other  by  indissoluble  ties.  From  the 
mineral  to  the  human  being,  the  series  rises  by  im- 
perceptible degrees ;  the  same  features  belong  at  the 
same  time  to  all  three  kingdoms,  minerals,  plants  and 
animals,  forming  in  truth,  the  most  perfect  unity  that 
can  be  conceived. 

Among  plants,  those  which  in  particular  appear 
to  possess  qualities  belonging  to  the  higher,  the  ani- 
mal kingdom,  are  the  sensitive  plants,  which  exhibit 
spontaneous  motion,  whether  in  the  normal  state  of 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          255 

the  plant  or  from  accidental  causes.  The  leaves  of 
certain  plants  are  endowed  with  a  motion  which  may 
be  termed  revolving,  because  it  follows  a  regular 
curve,  and  thus  describes  in  the  air  a  figure  like  a 
cone.  The  tendrils  of  the  bryony,  and  of  our  garden 
cucumbers,  are  endowed  with  this  perpetual  motion, 
the  duration  of  which  depends  to  some  extent  on  the 
temperature.  These  motions  are  not  apparent,  ex- 
cept under  close  and  minute  examination.  This  is 
not  the  case  with  the  motions  of  the  Desmodium 
gyraus.  In  this  plant  the  leaves  consist  of  three 
parts  :  a  large  terminal  leaflet  in  the  centre,  and  two 
smaller  ones,  lateral,  and  springing  from  the  base  of 
the  former.  Now,  for  the  whole  lifetime  of  the 
plant,  by  day  and  by  night,  in  wet  or  dry  weather,  in 
the  sun  or  in  the  shade,  the  lateral  leaflets  perform 
incessant  little  jerks,  not  unlike  those  of  the  second- 
hand of  a  watch ;  one  of  these  rises  a  little  distance, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  other  sinks  by  as  much ; 
when  the  first  sinks,  the  other  rises,  the  motions 
being  thus  alternate  and  regular.  They  are  the  more 
rapid  in  proportion  as  heat  and  moisture  in- 
crease, and  are  most  evident  when  the  sun's  rays 
are  striking  upon  the  plant.  In  India,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Ganges,  where  the  plant  is  in  full  vigor,  it  has 
been  observed  that  the  leaflets  perform  sixty  of  these 
jerks  per  minute,  and  furnish  us  thus,  as  it  were,  with 
a  genuine  vegetable  watch.  The  large  leaf  performs 
similar  movements,  bat  much  more  gently.  This 
plant  was  discovered  in  Bengal,  by  Mrs.  Mouson,  a 
distinguished  English  botanist,  who  died  during  her 


256          THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

scientific  travels.  The  Indians  were  found  to  observe 
these  motions  with  a  sort  of  superstitious  reverence, 
and  attach  to  the  plants  supernatural  powers. 

We  said  above  that  the  motions  of  these  plants 
manifest  themselves  either  in  the  normal  state  of  the 
plant,  or  in  consequence  of  occasional  and  accidental 
causes.  The  Desmodium  is  an  example  of  the  for- 
mer ;  an  example  of  the  latter  is  furnished  by  the 

DIONAJE  MUSOIPULA —  Venus' s  Fly-trap. 

This  singular  plant  seems  to  have  received  from 
nature  faculties  far  superior  to  those  of  other  plants. 
It  opens  its  pink  lobes,  the  springs  are  set,  and  woe 
betide  the  insect  that  approaches  incautiously.  In- 
stantly one  of  its  leaves  folds  back  upon  the  fly, 
which  in  vain  tries  to  escape  from  the  treacherous 
beauty ;  another  has  in  the  same  way  caught  a  small 
worm,  it  holds  it  fast  and  will  not  let  it  go.  When 
we  look  upon  these  caprices  of  nature,  we  can  hardly 
help  being  tempted  to  believe  that  she  has  given  to 
these  plants  some  powers  analogous  to  those  which  we 
admire  in  animals.  Like  them,  this  plant  has  action, 
life,  spontaneous  motion.  We  find  it  possessed,  in 
fact,  of  all  that  indicates  purpose  and  will. 

The  first  specimens  of  this  plant  were  brought 
from  South  Carolina  to  Europe  by  John  Bartram,  in 
1788,  for  the  plant  is  native  of  North  America.  It  is 
a  pretty  plant,  bearing  several  elegant  white  flowers, 
while  the  leaves  spread  out  close  to  the  ground  and 
terminate  in  two  lobes  joined  to  each  other  by  a  hinge, 
and  surrounded  at  their  edges  with  prickles.  These 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.  257 

lobes  lie  open,  like  the  leaves  of  a  book,  and  a  liquid 
resembling  honey  is  spread  lightly  over  the  edges, 
which  attracts  the  unwary  fly.  Between  the  two 
lobes,  just  where  they  join,  there  are  three  sharp  bris- 
tles, and  as  soon  as  a  fly,  or  any  other  insect  crawling 
over  the  surface,  happens  to  touch  one  of  the  bristles, 
the  irritability  of  the  plant  is  excited,  and  the  lobes, 
suddenly  closing,  imprison  the  insect — like  a  rat  in  a 
common  gin.  Its  efforts  to  escape  have  only  the  ef- 
fect of  closing  the  curious  trap  more  firmly.  The 
prison  doors  do  not  open  until  all  movement  ceases, 
or  in  other  words,  till  the  insect  is  dead ;  then  the 
lobes  unfold  and  wait  for  another  victim. 

Another  pitcher-plant,  peculiar  to  the  United 
States,  is  the  Darlingtonia  (Calif arnica),  growing  on 
the  Sierra  Nevada,  at  an  altitude  of  5,000  feet  above  the 
sea.  When  fully  grown  it  bears  a  most  striking  re- 
semblance to  the  upraised  head  and  body  of  an  excit- 
ed Cobra,  with  hood  expanded,  and  preparing  for  a 
spring.  The  head  is  at  right  angles  with  the  verti- 
cal, hollow  body,  and  apparently  presents  no -open- 
ing by  which  an  insect  could  enter ;  under  the  place 
where  the  lower  jaw  would  be,  hang  two  large  red- 
dish appendages,  like  the  "  wattles"  of  a  fowl.  Flies 
and  insects  of  every  kind  are  irresistibly  attracted  by 
the  large  pitchers  which  this  plant  bears;  they 
alight  on  the  red  "  wattles,"  and  then  fly  upwards 
into  the  tube ;  owing  to  a  sudden  twist  in  the  neck 
of  the  pitcher,  they  are  at  once  compelled  to  descend 
the  hollow  body,  and  never  return  alive.  The  old 
pitchers  are  generally  full  of  dead  flies,  and  as  they 


258          THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

soon  split  and  rot,  the  ground  around  the  plants  is 
strewn  with  heaps  of  insects. 

Thus  we  have  here  plants,  bloodthirsty,  cunning 
in  the  capture  of  their  prey,  and  destroying  animal  life 
on  a  large  scale.  "  What  mysterious  forces,"  exclaims 
the  naturalist,  Pouchet,  "govern  the  life  of  a 
plant !"  These  beings,  now  so  graceful,  and  now  so 
imposing  in  form,  adorned  with  dazzling  colors,  filling 
the  air  with  the  sweetest  perfumes,  are  they  left  desti- 
tute of  the  faculties  granted  to  the  lowest  of  animals  ? 
There  are  two  views  on  this  subject,  botli  equally 
guilty  of  exaggeration.  One  has  been  pleased  to  over- 
rate what  they  call  the  inner  essence  of  plants :  the 
other  is  guilty  of  degrading  it  beyond  measure. 

The  ancients  were  especially  guilty  of  the  first  ex- 
cess. Empedoclus  did  not  hesitate  to  attribute  to 
plants  the  highest  faculties ;  and  some  of  the  successors 
of  the  philosophers  of  Agrigentum  have  not  stopped 
here.  The  mysterious  mandrake  was  considered  by 
them  a  being  possessed  of  the  most  exquisite  sensibil- 
ity. At  the  least  wound,  the  little-man  plant  was 
supposed  to  give  forth  piteous  groans.  And  those 
who  dared  go  in  search  of  it  preferred  employing 
ample  precautions  to  withstand  the  dread  it  inspired, 
and  to  escape  from  its  malignant  influence  and  harm. 

Nor  are  the  crude  notions  of  credulous  antiquity 
unknown  to  our  own  day ;  on  the  contrary,  they  have 
often  assumed  a  still  more  fantastic  shape.  Adanson, 
bold  philosopher  as  he  was,  distributed  souls  largely 
among  the  plants ;  one  he  thought  was  not  sufficient 
for  each  and  so  to  each  he  gave  several.  Hedwig,  a 


THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

profound  botanist,  Bonnet,  who  was  more  superficial, 
and  above  all,  Edward  Smith,  attributed  to  plants  an 
exquisite  sensibility,  and  even  the  possession  of  most 
delicate  sensations. 

These  ideas  have  found  in  our  day  ardent  defend- 
ers in  two  of  the  most  celebrated  savants  of  studious 
Germany,  Yon  Martins,  and  Theodore  Fechner.  These 
men  look  upon  plants  as  sentient  beings,  endowed 
with  individual  souls,  and  the  latter  has  carried  his 
enthusiasm  so  far  as  to  form  a  kind  of  vegetable 
psychology. 

The  genius  of  Descartes  had  succeeded  in  making 
the  masses  believe  that  animals  were  nothing  better 
than  simple  automatons,  wound  up  to  perform  a  cer- 
tain numbers  of  actions.  Going  still  farther,  other 
naturalists,  like  the  great  Huler,  the  founder  of  vege- 
table physiology,  were  disposed  to  look  upon  plants 
as  beings,  subject  to  no  other  law  but  that  of  material 
forces.  But  neither  extreme  finds  nowadays  favor 
with  men  of  science  ;  they  do  not  look  upon  the  chil- 
dren of  nature  as  mere  machines,  but  they  are  as  far 
from  believing  that  they  possess  souls.  The  phe- 
nomena of  plant  life  are  still  more  or  less  an  enigma ; 
they  cannot  be  ascribed  to  natural  and  chemical  causes 
only,  and  yet  they  can  as  little  be  traced  back  to  the 
power  of  a  supreme  and  individual  intellect.  Only 
one  thing  is  certain  :  they  are  subject  to  a  vital  force 
which  controls  all  the  springs  of  their  existence  • 
where  this  vital  force  disappears,  life  is  at  an  end,  and 
destruction  inevitable. 

All  the  savants,  however,  who  have  examined  the 
17 


260  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

subject  thoroughly,  agree  on  this  point,  that  plants 
enjoy  a  life  as  active  as  that  of  most  animals,  and  that 
they  show  signs  of  more  or  less  sensibility.  Bichat, 
in  his  magnificent  work  on  Life  and  Death,  admits 
this  without  hesitation.  .Numerous  experiments  prove, 
beyond  doubt,  that  there  is  evidently  in  plants  a  de- 
gree of  sensibility  analogous  to  that  of  animals.  Elec- 
tricity affects  them,  and  narcotics  paralyze,  or  kill 
them.  If  sensitive  plants  are  watered  with  opium, 
they  are  put  to  sleep  like  men.  Prussic  acid  poisons 
plants  with  as  much  rapidity  as  animals.  Let  us 
throw  aside  the  antiquated  ideas  respecting  vegetable 
life ;  let  us  simply  examine  the  phenomena,  and  we 
must  arrive  at  conclusions  which  are  astonishing. 

"  Although  the  existence  of  nerves  in  plants  may 
be  still  doubtful,"  continues  the  same  author,  "  yet  it 
is  certain  that  the  irritability  manifested  by  sensitive 
plants  seems  absolutely  under  the  control  of  organs 
which  are  analogous  to  those  of  animals,  since  they 
are  impressed  in  the  same  manner  and  by  the  same 
agents  as  those  of  animals. 

Among  plants  endowed  with  marvellous  qualities, 
one  may  be  cited  that  has  furnished  powerful  tools  to 
quacks  and  charlatans.  It  is  the  Anastaiica,  or  Res- 
urrection Plant,  commonly  called  the  Hose  of  Jericho. 
It  is  a  truly  marvellous  sight  to  watch  this  plant,  when 
apparently  dead  and  dry,  assuming  once  more  the 
color  of  life  as  soon  as  the  root  is  plunged  into  wa- 
ter. Its  buds  swell  with  new  life,  the  leaves  of  its 
calyx  open,  the  petals  unfold,  the  flower-stalk  grows 
and  the  full-blown  flowers  are  before  us  like  the  work 


THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION.          2P,1 

of  magic.  The  Rose  of  Jericho  is  not  a  rose,  but  has 
been  placed  by  Linnaeus  in- the  first  order  Siliculosa. 
Its  earliest  mention,  perhaps,  is  in  Jesus  Sirach,  ch. 
xxiv.,  and  ever  since  it  has  been  connected  in  popular 
superstition  with  the  Holy  Land  and  the  life  of  our 
Saviour.  It  grows  in  the  sandy  regions  of  Arabia, 
Egypt  and  Syria.  The  stem  divides  at  the  base  and 
bears  spikes  of  pretty  white  flowers,  which  change 
into  round  fruits  ;  when  the  latter  are  ripe,  the  leaves 
fall,  the  branches  grow  hard  and  dry,  ^nd  fold  inward 
so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  ball.  In  autumn  it  is  uprooted 
by  the  storms  and  carried  towards  the  sea ;  there  it 
is  gathered  and  exported  to  Europe,  where  it  is  highly 
prized  on  account  of  its  hygrometric  qualities.  All 
that  is  necessary  is  to  place  the  end  of  its  root  into 
water,  and  soon  the  plant  is  seen  to  begin  a  new  life, 
to  develop  its  parts,  and  to  unfold  new  roses  before 
the  eye  of  the  enraptured  observer.  When  the  wa- 
ter is  removed,  the  spectator  sees  the  magical  plant* 
grow  weak,  close  up  its  petals,  and  the  leaves  pass 
through  the  last  agonies  of  vegetable  life  and  die. 
In  certain  countries  it  is  still  believed  that  this  mar- 
vellous rose  blooms  every  year  on  the  day  and  at  the 
hour  of  the  birth  of  our  Saviour ;  while  pious  pilgrims 
to  this  day  report  finding  it  at  every  spot  where 
Mary  and  Joseph  rested  on  their  flight  into  Egypt. 

The  natives  of  Mexico  attached  the  same  marvel- 
lous qualities  to  their  Resurrection  Plant,  which  is 
also  found  in  California,  on  the  Pacific  coast.  It  has 
a  more  remarkable  recuperative  power  than'any  other 
variety,  and  after  drifting  about  for  months, 


262          THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION. 

and  shrivelled,  it  requires  only  a  few  moments  in  a 
cup  of  water  to  expand  to  its  original  form  and  re- 
cover its  color.  Still  another  plant,  a  Euphorbia, 
called  Medusa-Head,  blooms  out  in  warm  water,  after 
being  apparently  dead. 


The  Bindweed. 


CHAPTEK  YII. 

THE    SLEEP    OF    PLANTS. 

WHE2T  the  shades  of  evening  spread  over  gardens 
and  fields  the  plant  sfold  their  timorous  leaves, 
as  if  feeling  some  premonition  of  the  darkness  and  cold 
that  are  approaching.  We  have  seen  how  sensitive 
plants  close  up  their  leaflets  as  soon_as  the  absence  of 
their  beloved  sun  has  made  itself  felt,  or  when  they 
are  touched  by  a  foreign  substance.  This  habit,  how- 
ever, is  not  peculiar  to  these  delicate  plants  only ;  it 
is  a  feature  of  a  great  many  other  plants,  which  in- 
vert their  leaves  at  night  in  a  manner  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  their  normal  arrangement  during  the 
day.  Their  appearance  is  so  completely  changed  that 


264:  THE   WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION. 

it  is  often  difficult  to  recognize  them  in  their  strange 
disguise. 

This  condition  is  what  Linnaeus,  who  discovered  it 
m  Sweden,  terms  the  sleep  of  the  plants,  although 
this  expression,  borrowed  from  animal  life,  and  ap- 
plied to  plants,  does  not  mean  the  same  thing  as  with 
animals — a  state  of  repose  and  flaccidity  ;  for  during 
the  night,  plants  are  as  stiff  and  firm  as  they  are  dur- 
ing the  day.  Linnaeus,  in  order  to  verify  the  differ- 
ence in  the  condition  of  leaves  during  the  day 
and  the  night,  used  to  deprive  himself  of  sleep,  for 
several  nights,  and  descend  into  his  garden  to  exam- 
( ine  his  plants.  He  soon  discovered  that  it  was  the 
absence  of  light  only,  and  not  the  intensity  of  cold, 
to  which  this  phenomena  was  chiefly  due ;  and  this 
fact  was  of  use  to  him  in  establishing  upon  better  au- 
thority than  heretofore  the  connection  that  subsists 
between  light  and  the  organization  of  plants.  He 
next  carried  some  of  them  into  green-houses,  where 
they  were  protected  from  all  injurious  influences,  and 
ascertained  that  even  thus  sheltered,  the  plants  yielded 
as  submissively  to  the  negative  influence  of  darkness 
as  their  companions  in  the  open  air.  He  also  found 
out  that  the  difference  between  night  and  day  is 
much  more  keenly  felt  by  young  than  by  old  plants ; 
and  constant  observation  proved  to  him  that  the  ob- 
ject of  nature  in  establishing  this  difference,  was  to 
provide  for  the  early  closing  of  the  young  and  ten- 
der leaves,  which  are  more  sensitive  than  those  of 
older  growth  to  the  influence  of  cold  and  the  night 
air. 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          265 

The  positions  assumed  by  leaves  during  the  night 
depends  much  upon  whether  these  leaves  are  simple  or 
compound ;  in  the  latter,  the  difference  is  far  more 
distinctly  marked.  In  the  oxalis,  with  compound 
leaves,  the  leaflets  bend  toward  the  common  stalk, 
and  lean  against  it  with  their  under  surface,  leaving 
only  their  upper  surface  visible.  Sweet  peas  and 
common  beans  fold  their  leaves  up,  till  one  supports 
the  other ;  while  other  plants  roll  theirs  together,  in 
the  shape  of  an  ear  trumpet. 

The  common  chickweed  (Stellaria  medico)  fur- 
nishes a  beautiful  instance  of  the  sleep  of  plants. 
Every  night  the  leaves  approach  each  other  in  pairs, 
so  as  to  include  between  their  upper  surfaces  the  ten- 
der rudiments  of  young  shoots.  But  they  are  not 
alone.  If  one  were  to  walk  in  a  botanic  garden 
after  the  setting  of  the  sun,  a  great  number  of  plants 
would  be  found  which  present  a  different  aspect  dur- 
ing the  night  from  that  which  they  present  during 
the  day.  In  some  the  leaves  are  erect  and  cover  the 
stem,  in  others  they  hang  down  and  cover  the  leaflets 
with  the  under  side ;  while,  in  still  others,  they  ap- 
proach each  other  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  tiny 
boats.  In  the  mallows,  with  simple  round  leaves,  the 
form  of  the  latter  is  convex  or  concave,  according  to 
the  hour  of  the  day. 

To  what  cause  are  these  general  phenomena  due  ? 
They  seem  to  be  independent  of  the  thermometric  or 
hydrometric  condition  of  the  air.  De  Candolle,  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  Linnaeus,  ascertained  that 
light  was  the  most  direct  cause.  He  exposed  plants 


266  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

that  closed  their  leaves  at  night  to  an  artificial  light, 
little  inferior  in  brilliancy  to  that  of  day.  "  When 
I  exposed  these  plants  to  light  by  night,  and  placed 
them  in  obscurity  by  day,"  he  says,  "  they  opened 
and  closed  their  leaves  at  first  without  any  fixed 
rule ;  but  after  a  few  days  they  adapted  themselves  to 
the  new  condition  of  things,  and  accepted  night  for 
day  and  day  for  night ;  opening  their  leaves  with  reg- 
ularity at  night,  which  now  brought  them  light,  and 
closing  them  during  the  daytime.  When  I  exposed 
them  to  continuous  light,  day  and  night,  they  had,  as 
in  the  ordinary  state  of  things,  alternate  seasons  of 
sleeping  and  waking ;  but  these  seasons  were  some- 
what shorter  than  in  nature.  When  I  exposed  them 
to  continual  darkness,  they  also  slept  and  remained 
awake  alternately,  but  the  intervals  were  very  irreg- 
ular." 

The  natural  inference  from  these  facts  is  that  this 
tendency  towards  periodic  motion  is  inherent  in  the 
plants ;  and  that  light,  acting  with  different  degrees  of 
intensity  upon  different  species,  is  the  chief  cause  of 
it.  It  must  be  added,  however,  that  other  botanists 
have  failed  to  obtain  the  same  results  as  Linnaeus  and 
De  Candolle ;  so  that  the  question  is  not  yet  absolute- 
ly decided.  It  is  claimed  by  many  naturalists,  that 
there  exists  a  hidden  bond  which  connects  the  life  of 
plants  with  the  great  luminary  in  the  heavens. 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 

THE     FLORAL     CLOCK. 

flowers  of  the  lovely  nipplewort,  the  beauti- 
ful  water-lily,  and  the  brilliant  marigold,  with  a 
great  number  of  other  plants,  expand  and  close  at 
certain  fixed  hours.  They  mark  the  altitude  of  the 
sun,  and  its  inclination;  and  steadily  following  its 
motion  on  high,  by  their  own  imitative  changes  on 
earth,  they  indicate,  with  unerring  accuracy,  the  course 
of  time.  Having  observed  this  remarkable  fact, 
Linnaeus  contrived  his  famous  floral  clock.  It  con- 
sisted of  three  divisions :  a  meteorological  division, 
containing  flowers  that  open  or  close  earlier  or  later, 
according  to  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere,  and 
consequently  indicate  the  state  of  the  weather;  a 


268 


THE   WONDERS   OF    VEGETATION, 


tropical  division,  as  he  called  it,  consisting  of  plants 
that  open  at  sunrise,  and  close  at  sunset ;  and  a  horo- 
logical  division,  consisting  of  flowers  that  open  and 
close  at  fixed  and  invariable  hours.  It  is  this  last  di- 
vision that  forms  specially  the  floral  clock.  The  fol- 
lowing twenty-four  flowers  open  successively  at  differ- 
ent hours  of  the  day  and  night. 

Midnight.  .  Large-flowered  Cactus      .  "7   .  Cactus  grandiflorus. 

1  o'clock.  .  Lapland  Sow  Thistle  ....  Sonchus  Lapponicus. 

2  o'clock.  .  Yellow  Goats  beard     ....  Tragopogon  luteum. 

3  o'clock.  .  Great  Pieris Pieris  magna. 

4  o'clock.  .  Smooth  Hawks  beard  ....  Crepis  teclorum. 

5  o'clock.  .  Day  Lily Hcmerocallis  fulva. 

6  o'clock.  .  Shrubby  Hawkweed    ....  Hieracium  fruticosum. 

I  o'clock.    .    Sow  Thistle Sonchus  oleraceus. 

8  o'clock.    .    Mouse  Ear Hieracium  pilosella. 

.    Pimpernel,  or  Poor  Man's  Weath- 
er glass Ai'ragallis  arvensis. 

9  o'clock.    .    Field  Marigold Calendula- arvensis. 

10  o'clock.   .    Neapolitan  Mesembryanthemum  Mesembryanthcmum     Nea- 

politanum. 

II  o'clock.   .    Lady  Eleven  o'clock    ....    Ornithogatum  umbellatum. 
Midday.       .    Ice  Plant Mesembryanthemum  crystal- 

linum. 

1  o'clock.  .  Proliferous  Pink Dianthus  prolifer. 

2  o'clock.  .  Hawk- weed Hieracium. 

3  o'clock.  .  Dandelion Leontodon  Taraxacum. 

4  o'clock.  .  Alyssum Alyssum  alystrides. 

5  o'clock.  .  Evening  Primrose (Enothera  biennis. 

6  o'clock.  .  Geranium Geranium  triste. 

I  o'clock.    .    Naked-stemmed  Poppy    .    .     .    Papaver  nudicaulis. 

8  o'clock.    .    Erect  Convolvulus Convolvulus  rectrus. 

9  o'clock.    .    Linnsean  Convolvulus  ....    Convolvulus  Linnaei. 

10  o'clock.   .    Purple  Ipomea Ipomea  purpurea. 

II  o'clock.  .    Night-flowering  Catch-fly      .    .    Silene  noctiflora. 

Among  the  flowers  that  open  at  a  fixed  hour,  sev- 
eral do  not  open  again  after  closing,  as  the  Syrian 
mallow ;  others,  like  most  composite  flowers,  open 
again  on  the  following  day. 


THE   WONDERS    OF    VEGETATION.          269 

A  great  number  of  flowers  open  only  at  night. 
Among  the  most  remarkable  of  these  is  the  large 
flowered  cactus  (Cactus  grandiflorus)  or,  night- 
blooming  cereus,  originally  from  Jamaica  and  Vera 
Cruz.  Its  magn  ill  cent  flower  expands  and  diffuses 
a  delicious  perfume  soon  after  sunset ;  but  it  remains 
open  only  a  few  hours,  and  before  dawn  breaks  it  has 
closed.  Generally  it  expands  once  more  on  the  fol- 
lowing evening,  and  this  continues  during  several 
days.  For  four  years  in  succession  a  plant  of  this  spe- 
cies opened  its  flowers  in  a  garden  in  the  Faubourg 
St.  Antoine,  on  the  15th  July  at  seven  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  with  unfailing  regularity. 

Among  the  flowers  which  open  and  diffuse  their 
perfume  only  at  night  we  may  mention  the  Arabian 
jessamine,  several  species  of  the  Oestrum  cenothera, 
the  lychnis,  several  libnes,  some  geraniums,  and  a  vari- 
ety of  gladiolus.  The  Belles  de  Nuit,  our  marvel 
of  Peru  (Mirabilis  Jalapa\  owe  their  French  name  to 
this  habit  of  not  opening  till  evening  in  hot  weather. 

The  African  marigold  opens  constantly  at  seven 
o'clock  and  remains  open  until  four  o'clock,  if  the 
weather  be  fair.  If  it  does  not  open,  or  if  it  close 
before  that  hour,  it  is  certain  that  rain  wil]  fall  dur- 
ing the  day.  In  like  manner  the  Siberian  thistle 
remains  open  all  night,  unless  it  is  going  to  rain  the 
following  day. 

The  flowers  of  the  nymphsea  or  water-lily,  close 
and  sink  into  the  water  precisely  at  sunset ;  they  rise 
again  to  the  surface  and  expand  as  soon  as  the  sun 
reappears.  Pliny  jnentions  this  fact :  "  It  is  re- 


270  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

ported,"  he  says,  "  that  in  the  Euphrates  the  iiowei 
of  the  lotus  plunges  into  the  water  at  night,  remain 
ing  there  till  midnight,  and  to  such  a  depth  that  it 
cannot  be  reached  with  the  hand.  After  midnight  it 
begins  gradually  to  rise,  and  as  the  sun  rises  above  the 
horizon,  the  flower  also  rises  above  the  water,  ex- 
pands, and  raises  itself  some  distance  above  the  ele- 
ment in  which  it  grows."  According  to  some  writers, 
this  circumstance  is  the  origin  of  the  worship  by  the 
Egyptians  of  the  nymphsea  lotus,  which  they  consid- 
ered sacred  to  the  sun.  Its  flowers  and  fruit  are  often 
to  be  seen  engraven  on  Egyptian  and  Indian  monu- 
ments. The  flower  ornaments  the  head  of  Osiris; 
Horns,  or  the  sun,  is  likewise  represented  seated  on 
the  flower  of  the  lotus.  Hancarville  has  proved  it, 
that  they  considered  this  flower  an  emblem  of  the 
world  as  it  rose  from  the  waters  of  the  deep. 

In  speaking  of  the  floral  clock,  it  may  not  be  out 
of  place  to  give  the  calendar  in  which  each  month  is 
represented  by  its  favorite  flower. 

January, Black  Hellebore. 

February, Daphne. 

March,        Alpine  Soldaneila. 

April, Wild  Tulip. 

May, Dropwort. 

June, Red  Poppy, 

July, Centaury. 

August, Scabiosa. 

September, Alpine  Cyclamen. 

October, Chinese  Hypericum. 

November, Ximenisia. 

December, Cluster  Lopezia. 


PAPYRUS. 


The  Flora  of  the  Sea. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MARINE     PLANT. 

SALT  water  covers  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  surface 
of  the  globe.  Is  this  immense  extent  destitute 
of  the  wealth  and  beauty  of  life,  while  the  earth  is 
endowed  with  such  a  wealth  of  animals  and  plants  ? 
The  ancient  naturalists  were  far  from  comprehending 
all  the  abundance  of  life  in  the  ocean.  Linnseus, 
even,  speaking  of  marine  plants,  only  mentions  an  in- 
significant number. 

Science,  more  advanced  in  our  day,  has  sounded 
the  depths  of  the  ocean,  and  in  those  dark  regions  has 
found  an  exuberance  of  vegetable  life  not  inferior  to 


272          THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

that  which  the  dry  land  presents.  There  is  a  world 
of  its  own,  beneath  the  waves,  and  the  classifications  of 
land  plants  does  not  apply  to  those  of  the  watery 
world.  The  sea-bottom  is  laid  out  in  mountains  and 
valleys,  covered  with  a  magnificent  vegetation,  in  the 
midst  of  which  a  thousand  animal  forms  are  sport- 
ing— forests  that  shelter  guests  more  numerous  and 
not  less  varied  than  those  of  our  more  familiar  for- 
ests on  terra  firma. 

It  is  our  duty,  however,  to  state  that  if  there  are 
incomparably  more  animals  in  the  water  than  on  the 
earth,  vegetable  life  is  not  so  extensively  represented 
in  the  former ;  but  there  is  this  compensation,  that 
in  the  ocean  there  is  still  another  class  of  creatures, 
which  are  at  once  animals  and  vegetables. 

Yes,  the  sea  is  a  new  world,  the  rich  and  varied 
productions  of  which  will  hereafter  form  a  most  mar- 
vellous section  of  Natural  History.  The  posthumous 
work  of  Moquiii  Tandon  (The  World  of  the  Sea. 
London  :  Cassel,  Fetter  &  Galpin),  has  revealed  the 
importance  of  this  hidden  world,  and  contains,  as  in 
one  casket,  all  the  pearls  concealed  beneath  the  waves. 
Let  us  hear  what  the  great  German  botanist,  Schlei- 
den,  says  about  submarine  plants :  "  The  submarine 
flora  consists  almost  exclusively  of  algae  or  sea-wrack. 
These  plants  present  such  a  diversity  of  forms  tLac 
a  promenade  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  would  not  be 
less  interesting  or  less  varied  than  a  journey  in  the 
Tropics.  Their  peculiar  structure,  soft  and  gelatinous 
in  all  its  parts,  a  collection  of  organs  round,  elongated 
or  flat,  which  do  not  deserve  the  name  of  trunks  and 


THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION.          273 

leaves ;  tlieir  brilliant  colors,  green,  olive,  yellow^ 
rose  and  purple,  and  sometimes  combined  in  the  most 
extraordinary  way  in  the  same  plant,  give  to  these 
vegetables  a  strange  and  fairy-like  character." 

"  The  plants  of  the  ocean,"  says  a  French  writer, 
"  do  not  much  resemble  those  which  adorn  our  woods 
and  valleys.  In  the  first  place,  they  have  no  roots. 
Those  that  float  are  globular  or  egg-shaped,  tubular 
or  membraneous,  but  show  no  signs  of  root ;  those 
that  are  stationary  are  fixed  by  a  sort  of  gummy,  super- 
ficial matter,  more  or  less  lobed  and  divided.  The 
*£arth  counts  for  nothing  in  their  development,  for 
their  origin  is  always  independent  of  it.  Every  thing 
takes  place  in  the  water — from  it  comes  every  thing — 
to  it  every  thing  returns." — (Quatrefages.) 

Terrestrial  plants  choose  particular  localities  and 
flourish  only  in  certain  soils.  Marine  plants  are  in- 
different as  to  what  rock  they  attach  themselves, 
whether  it  be  calcareous  or  granite,  to  them  it  is  all 
the  same.  They  grow  indiscriminately  anywhere — 
even  on  corals  or  shells.  They  have  neither  real 
stems  nor  real  leaves ;  they  spread  out  in  wide  or 
narrow  layers,  in  one  or  many  pieces,  which  supply 
the  place  of  these  organs.  They  sometimes  resemble 
waving  ropes,  and  at  other  times  crisp  threads.  Some 
of  them  might  be  taken  for  little  transparent  balloons, 
for  cakes  of  trembling  jelly,  for  tanned  hides,  or  for 
fans  of  green  paper.  Their  surface  is  sometimes  soft, 
polished,luminous,  at  other  times  covered  with  papillge, 
warts  or  real  hairs.  Their  color  is  dark  or  olive,  yel- 
low dark  brown,  dark  or  bright  green,  pink,  or  more 
18 


274  THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

or  less  vivid  carmine.  Some  writers  divide  them 
according  to  their  color  into  three  great  sections  ;  the 
brown  or  black,  the  green  and  the  red.  The  first, 
found  always  at  some  depth,  are  by  far  the  most  nu- 
merous, and  constitute  the  greatest  part  of  subma- 
rine forests. 

The  green  plants  are  superficial,  and  often  floating. 
The  red  plants  are  generally  found  in  shallow  places 
and  attached  to  rocks  near  the  shore. 

Islands  of  weeds  of  immense  extent,  floating  on 
the  surface  and  sometimes  carried  by  currents  to  pro- 
digious distances,  are  ofteH  met  with  by  voyagers. 
Columbus  encountered  one  on  his  first  voyage  to 
America.  These  are  formed  of  sea-wrack.  But  at 
the  bottom  of  the  ccean  are  rich  fields  of  tufted  plants 
and  of  shrubs,  where  the  fish,  the  bird  of  the  sea, 
builds  his  water  nest,  groves  and  gardens  where 
the  inhabitants  of  the  ocean  sport,  woods  and  forests 
which  afford  hiding-places  for  the  timid,  unarmed 
denizens  of  the  sea  to  escape  from  the  assaults  of  the 
monsters  of  the  deep. 

One  fact  worthy  of  remark  is,  that  submarine, 
like  terrestrial  plants,  attach  themselves  to  certain 
geographical  limits.  When  wre  consider  that  these 
conditions  of  vegetable  distribution  are  heat  and 
moisture,  and  remember  that  at  a  relatively  inconsid- 
erable depth  the  sea  in  all  parts  has  the  same  degree 
of  heat,  we  will  be  astonished  to  find  so  many  varieties 
in  the  submarine  flora  in  regions  that  are  contiguous. 
It  may  be  said,  however,  that  the  algae  display  the 
greatest  exuberance  in  temperate  zones,  diminishing 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.  275 

in  this  respect  as  we  approach  either  the  poles  or  the 
equator. 

But  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  vegetation  is  richest 
under  the  equator.  "  Let  us  leave,"  says  Schleiden, 
"  the  aquatic  forest  of  the  north  and  their  gigantic 
plants,  some  of  which,  as  the  pear-bearing  algse  (mac- 
rocystis  pyrifera)  are  from  500  to  1,500  feet  long, 
and  turn  to  the  regions  where  the  sun  is  more  power- 
ful, to  see  if  we  find  here  the  same  profusion  of  vege- 
tation. Let  us  plunge  into  the  limpid  crystal  of  the 
Indian  Ocean,  and  immediately  before  our  eyes  will 
be  displayed  the  most  enchanting,  the  most  marvel- 
lous spectacle.  Massive  trees  with  singular  branches 
bear  living  flowers.  Large  and  compact  meandrines 
and  astrese  form  a  strange  contrast  with  their  jointed 
arms  covered  with  finger-like  branches.  The  colors  sur- 
pass description.  The  freshest  green  alternates  with 
brown  or  yellow  ;  deep  purple  tints  blend  with  bright 
red,  pale  brown  and  the  deepest  blue.  Some  milli- 
pores,  of  a  bright  red,  yellow  or  peach  color,  cover  the 
withered  masses  and  are  themselves  covered  with 
beautiful  pearl-colored  retipores,  resembling  the  most 
exquisite  carvings  in  ivory.  By  their  side  delicate 
fans  wave  to  and  fro,  the  light  yellow  gorgonir, 
and  the  pure  sand  of  the  bottom  is  marked  with  stars 
and  extraordinary  forms  of  the  most  varied  colors. 
Around  the  flowers  of  the  coral,  little  fishes,  reflecting 
a  metallic  sheen  in  red  and  blue,  the  humming-birds 
of  the  sea,  sport  like  the  spirits  of  the  abyss,  and 
medusae  steer  their  huge,  milky  white,  or  light  blue 
bells  across  the  enchanted  region.  Isabelles  (Holocan- 


276  THE   WONDERS   OF   VEGETATION. 

thes  ciliaris)  and  coquettes  (Lepidopus  argyreus)  and 
a  thousand  silvery  fishes,  displaying  the  most  glorious 
colors,  abound  everywhere  and  mingle  with  each 
other  in  the  most  wonderful  manner,  until  a  slight 
breeze  springs  up,  then  the  mirror  is  broken  and  the 
enchanting  scene  disappears  as  if  by  magic. 

At  night  the  astonishing  scene  opens  once  more, 
but  with  the  addition  of  strange  phosphorescent  illu- 
minations and  with  still  more  dazzling  colors.  Mil- 
lions of  star-like  medusae  and  microscopic  shell -fish 
dance  up  and  dowTnin  the  faint  darkness  like  fire-flies. 
Further  on  the  magnificent  Sea  Pen  (VeretiUum 
cynomorium)  waves  about  in  a  magic  light,  fairer 
than  her  brilliant  red  in  daylight,  and  everywhere 
sparks  flit  across  the  waters,  fires  blaze  up  and  softer 
lights  are  diffused.  What  in  the  light  of  the  sun 
looked  brown  and  plain,  now  assumes  all  the  tints  of 
the  rainbow,  and,  as  if  to  fill  up  the  measure  of  all 
that  is  grand  and  glorious  in  the  dark  deep,  a  gigantic 
moon  ti&\(0rthagoriscus  mola)  passes  by  like  a  huge 
disk  of  molten  silver,  surrounded  by  thousands'  of 
sparkling  stars.  We  will  add  but  one  feature.  The 
solitary  traveller  who  has  examined  the  wonderful 
coasts  of  Ceylon,  returned  one  evening  richly  laden 
with  treasures  to  his  dwelling.  "  All  at  once  in  the 
middle  of  the  quiet  night,  lighted  by  the  silver  bright- 
ness of  the  moon,  a  sweet  music,  like  the  wild  har- 
mony of  JEolian  harps,  struck  the  ear.  These  mel- 
ancholy sounds,  sufficiently  loud  to  drown  the  break- 
ers, came  from  the  shore  close  by  and  recalled  the 
songs  of  the  Syrens.  The  music  was  caused  by  the 


THE  WONDERS    OF   VEGETATION.          277 

singing  muscles,  which  chant  a  sweet  and  plaintive 
melody  from  the  coast." — Athen^um,  1848,  No.  1089. 
If  we  complete  this  panorama  by  a  picture  of  the 
watery  world  of  plants,  where  there  is  neither  leaf 
nor  calyx,  nor  corollas,  and  of  the  animals  dwelling 
there,  rich  in  colors  like  flowers  and  shining  like  stars  ; 
if  we  consider  the  ever-changing  mutability  of  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  which  by  turn  overflows  and  again 
abandons  the  continents  of  the  world,  we  shall  be 
able  to  form  some  idea  of  the  power,  the  importance 
and  the  wealth  of  this  element,  which  the  eloquent 
poetry  of  the  East  has  apostrophized  as  the  first  and 
eternal  source  of  all  things. 


Forest  of  the  Carboniferous  Period. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

PLANTS    OF   PRIMITIVE    TIMES. 

vegetable  carpet  which  in  our  times  embel- 
lishes  the  surface  of  the  terrestrial  globe  and 
yields  fruits  and  flowers,  has  not  always  existed  under 
the  form  in  which  it  presents  itself  to  us  now.  There 
was  a  time  when  the  aspect  of  vegetation  was  essen- 
tially different,  and  the  happy  man  to  whom  it  might 
be  given  to  survey  the  two  vegetable  systems  of  primi- 
tive and  present  times  would  be  called  upon  to  ad- 
mire two  worlds  very  different  in  their  conditions 
of  existence.  In  the  primitive  time  of  which  we 
speak,  no  tree,  bush,  or  flower,  at  present  existing,  was 
to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  world 
presented  a  spectacle  in  every  way  different  from  ours. 
There  were,  it  is  true,  dense  forests  with  shady 


THE   WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          279 

foliage,  silent  retreats  and  grand  avenues,  as  at  pres- 
ent ;  the  wind  sang  among  the  branches  ;  the  rays  of 
the  sun  fell  upon  the  morning  and  the  evening  mists, 
and  the  whole  of  nature  was  full  of  life  and  move- 
ment. But  there  was  no  human  being  to  contem- 
plate these  glories,  to  listen  to  these  harmonies.  It 
is  doubtful  if  the  first  representatives  of  animal  life 
had  yet  awakened  into  life  in  the  depth  of  the  ocean 
or  by  the  marshy  banks  of  the  rivers.  Plants  held 
universal  dominion ;  the  earth  was  a  "  vegetable  king- 
dom " — and  nothing  more. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  fancy  that  this  primitive 
vegetation  consisted  of  plants  larger,  stronger  and 
more  beautiful  than  those  that  clothed  the  earth 
when  the  reign  of  man  began,  and  it  would  be  an 
equal  mistake  to  imagine  that  those  ancient  plants 
were  as  rich  and  luxuriant  as  those  we  see  around  us. 
At  the  time  of  the  coal  formation  of  which  we  speak, 
probably  not  a  single  fruit  or  flower  had  yet  appear- 
ed upon  the  earth ;  and  as  to  the  supposed  colossal 
size  of  these  plants,  let  us  see  in  what  this  compara- 
tive superiority  consisted. 

The  beautiful  trees  we  have  described,  the  giants 
of  California,  the  monstrous  baobabs,  the  elegant 
palms,  the  gigantic  oaks,  and  the  brilliant  and  odor- 
ous flowers  of  our  own  day  had  not  yet  emerged  from 
the  mysterious  birth-place  of  beings.  The  earth 
hitherto  had  only  seen  plants  of  great  simplicity  and 
poverty  of  form.  The  plants  have  at  the  present  day 
but  a  few  rare  representatives,  which  are  not  apt  to  be 
noticed  by  the  side  of  richer  modern  forms.  Every 


280          THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION. 

one  knows  our  marsh-plants,  horse-tails  and  other 
reeds,  consisting  of  a  single  stem,  cylindrical,  hollow, 
worthless  and  uninteresting  ;  our  lycopodiums  or  club- 
mosses,  our  ferns,  and  all  the  host  of  modest,  unsightly 
cryptogams — these  are  the  descendants  in  modern 
times  of  the  plants  of  the  era  of  the  first  coal  forma- 
tion. For  the  number  of  vegetable  productions, 
however,  this  period,  the  period  of  transition  from  the 
primitive  to  the  secondary  epoch,  is  far  superior  to  all 
others ;  and  to  this  amazing  fertility  we  owe  the  un- 
measured extent  of  the  valuable  coal  fields  which  are 
to  supply  our  race  for  ages  in  Europe  and  America. 
Instead  of  rising  to  the  height  of  only  one  foot, 
these  "  horse-tails,"  etc.,  rose  then  to  the  height  of 
40  to  50  feet,  and  the  degenerate  club-moss  (Lycopo- 
dium),  which  now  reaches  rarely  three  feet,  grew  in 
primitive  ages  to  a  height  of  90  feet.  In  those 
ancient  forests  club-mosses  had  the  proportions  of 
stately  trees.  Mushrooms  sometimes  attained  40  feet 
in  diameter,  and  tree-ferns,  such  as  shown  in  our  illus- 
tration, rose  uniformly  to  a  height  of  30  feet  at  least. 
But  imagination  would  go  greatly  astray  if  it  fancied 
that  in  like  manner  our  oaks  measured  then  200  feet, 
our  pines  400  feet,  our  elms  60  feet  in  diameter,  etc. 
"  The  young  earth,"  says  Zimmerman,  "  expended  all 
its  strength  in  developing  reeds  and  brakes,  mosses  and 
mushrooms,  and  while  we  find  mosses  equal  to  trees, 
and  perhaps  mushrooms  as  big  as  mountains,  there 
did  not  exist  a  single  tree  in  those  days  larger  than 
those  of  our  own  times." 

But  although  at  that  period  the  whole  surface  of 


THE  WONDERS   OF  VEGETATION.          281 

the  earth  was  covered  with  vegetation,  these  few  spe- 
cies had  a  very  monotonous  appearance.  The  modern 
naturalist  who  could  behold  the  earth  as  it  then  was, 
would  be  struck  by  the  vast  expanse  of  forests  which 
covered  the  earth  wherever  the  water  had  receded, 
but  also  by  the  melancholy  uniformity  of  the  trees 
forming  these  interminable  woods  and  the  absence  of 
all  life.  Not  only  were  there  only  a  few  of  the  200,000 
species  in  existence  which  we  now  admire  in  their 
matchless  variety  of  form  and  color,  but  the  diversity 
produced  by  climate,  from  the  tropical  heat  near  the 
equator  to  the  eternal  ice  of  the  Polar  Sea,  was  want- 
ing, since  climate  itself  was  as  yet  an  unknown  feature 
of  our  globe.  The  heat  of  the  sun  had  little  effect 
by  the  side  of  the  intense  heat  of  the  earth  itself. 
Hence,  even  now  the  fossils  of  animal  as  well  as  vege- 
table life  of  those  days  are  invariably  the  same, 
whether  they  are  found  in  the  Arctic  Zone  or  in  the 
Tropics.  One  vast  uniform  forest  literally  covered 
the  whole  globe.  The  heat  at  the  poles,  drawing  its 
power  from  the  internal  heat  of  our  earth,  was  then 
at  least  equal  to  the  highest  temperature  now  known 
in  the  Torrid  Zone. 

Besides  the.  simple  horse-tails  and  ferns,  of  which 
the  humble  representatives  surviving  in  our  day 
give  us  a  better  idea  than  any  design  could  do, 
the  primitive  world  possessed  a  few  equally  simple 
varieties  of  plants,  which  have  since  entirely  disap- 
peared from  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Zimmerman 
assures  us  that  there  are  no  plants  now  in  existence 
like  those  extinct  vegetables. 


282     THE  WONDERS  OF  VEGEGAOION. 

But  all  these  plants  have  been  found  in  a  petrified 
state  in  the  rocks  of  the  coal  formation.  There  they 
are  preserved  for  us  in  the  most  wonderful  museum 
in  the  world.  It  is  astonishing  sometimes  to  find 
that  the  texture — the  fibres  and  the  pulp — have  all 
preserved  their  forms  unaltered,  though  the  substance 
itself  has  entirely  disappeared.  The  Town  Hall  of 
Nordhausen,  in  Germany,  contains  a  staircase  of 
sandstone,  each  fragment  of  which  clearly  indicates 
that  it  has  been  originally  of  wood.  But  no  example 
is  so  remarkable  as  the  forest  of  petrified  trees  which 
Sir  James  Ross  visited  in  Yan  Dieman's  Land,  al- 
though it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  forest  be- 
longs not  to  the  first  coal  measures,  but  to  the  series 
of  Tertiary  strata. 

"  One  of  the  most  marvellous  natural  curiosities," 
says  this  traveller,  "  which  attract  geologists  to  Yan 
Dieman's  Land,  is  the  valley  of  petrified  trees,  a  great 
number  of  which  are  transformed  into  the  most  beau- 
tiful opal.  While  the  exterior  presents  a  bright,  homo- 
geneous surface,  like  a  pine  stripped  of  its  bark, 
the  interior  consists  of  concentric  layers,  which  ap- 
pear perfectly  compact  and  of  the  same  nature,  but 
which  can  be  easily  split  up  in  the  direction  of  their 
length.  These  trees  are  standing  upright,  and  it 
would  seem  that  they  were  in  full  growth  when  the 
burning  lava  overwhelmed  them.  Some  fragments 
of  this  wood  have  been  carefully  examined,  and  look- 
ed so  full  of  life,  so  absolutely  like  wood,  that  only  a 
very  careful  examination  brought  the  conviction  that 
they  were  really  stone." 


THE  WONDERS  OF  VEGETATION.  283 
\ 

Coal  was  formed,  as  we  know,  by  the  prodigious 
exuberance  of  primitive  vegetation  that  covered 
the  whole  earth.  Every  one  has  observed  that  in 
damp  cellars,  in  which  dry  wood  is  kept  during  win- 
ter, there  is  a  soft  wood  layer  left  behind,  which  re- 
sembles vegetable  mould ;  and  it  is  also  well  known 
how  our  marsh-plants  are  gradually  converted  into 
peat.  In  a  similar  but  infinitely  more  powerful  man- 
ner was  our  early  vegetation  converted  into  coal. 

At  the  time  that  the  vegetable  world  was  pre- 
paring for  man  the  fuel  necessary  for  his  industry,  it 
appears  to  have  been  called  on  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  economy  of  nature — that  of  purifying 
for  the  good  of  the  aerial  creatures  who  afterwards 
came  to  exist)  the  atmosphere  which  was  surcharged 
with  carbonic  acid  gas.  For  though  this  gas  is 
of  great  importance  to  the  growth  of  vegetables,  it 
is  an  obstacle  to  the  existence  of  animals,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  more  perfect  classes  of  animals,  such 
as  mammals  and  birds.  But  when  that  ancient  and 
abundant  vegetation  fell  and  was  closed  over  by  the 
earth,  the  carbon  was  no  longer  mingled  with  the  air, 
which  gradually  became  purer  and  better  suited  to 
the  existence  of  animal  life. 


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